Well, here we are. A day before the start of the second half for the Mariners and we cant all but think "are the Mariners really one game above .500 after the first half"? First off I think the one question we should be asking ourselves is "why are the Mariners only one game above .500"? It was May 10th that the Mariners were 10 games over .500 and it would be the last time they were, since then they have gone 17-26 since then. The month of June wasn't pleasant to the Mariners as they saw themselves losing 19 games, which included losing 8 out of 10 between June 14th and June 23rd. That also saw them lose 6 straight games and I think it was at that point that not only myself but other Mariners fans began to think "how do they keep finding new ways to lose every game"?
Its true, the Mariners were finding new ways to lose or find ways to lose games during that tough stretch. Where it would come off a bad outing, one single error, or one play that defined the whole game; also at one point terrible calls by umpires but that's another story. The M's did find some light during their last home stand where they only found ways to win. They won 7 out of the 9 home games they played and took the series from the St. Louis Cardinals and swept the Baltimore Orioles in a slug fest. Though that home stand was short lived as after they left Safeco Field the misery began again, starting with getting swept in a 4 game series against the division rival Houston Astros, but the Mariners did take a 3 game series and the season series from the Kansas City Royals thus ending their first half.
So here we are, a day before the start of the second half, the Mariners are one game above .500, 8.5 out of first place in the AL West, and 5 back in the Wild Card. Didn't think the Mariners would be in this position did you? The M's only wish that June never happened that way they may have been still sitting at 10 games over .500 and still in first place in the division. So I think a lot of people are wondering what this team HAS to do, I can emphasize "has to do" enough, to make a run for the postseason and end 15 straight seasons of no meaningful baseball in October. First things first, get and stay healthy! Boy is that the biggest key for the Mariners in the second half. The M's have had both their top two pitchers Felix Hernandez and Taijuan Walker out for some time. Felix has had a calf injury and Walker has had an issue with foot tendinitis in his right foot, but both are due to return from the disable list and Felix should be making his first start in awhile against the Chicago White Sox.
Another problem the M's need to address is Wade Miley for one. Miley hasn't had the season to remember, in fact I'm a bit surprised that Miley still has a job with the Mariners. With a 6-6 record and a dreadful 5.44 ERA Miley has shown that he can't be trusted to go on the mound and give the Mariners bullpen a day of rest. In Miley's last 7 games Miley has gone 1-4 with a 6.87 ERA......not what you need in a starting pitcher. Hopefully the Mariners can take away from Mike Montgomery's last start against the Royals and make a move there. Nathan Karns has already been demoted to the bullpen due to his uncanny ability to fail to go into the 6th inning. Montgomery has been a big part to the Mariners bullpen this season, he's appeared in 31 games with a 3-3 record with a 2.06 ERA so I have the funny feeling that maybe Montgomery gets his chance to be a starter once again.
Also in the bullpen is an "8th inning specialist" who hasn't been special at all, in fact he's been nothing more than a headache to watch go out and nearly cost the M's games. I'm of course talking about Joaquin Benoit, who has a terrible 4.57 ERA in 23 games. Benoit has to go, plain in simple. The Mariners star rookie Edwin Diaz is making a great case for himself to either be the setup or closer for this team possibly during the 2nd half. Diaz has appeared in 17 games and all he's done has strikeout 34 batters and throw heat. With Steve Cishek facing some scrutiny about his role as the closer due to blowing 5 saves, though he does have 21 saves so he's not going anywhere. Though Diaz is making a pretty good effort to take either one's job.
James Paxton though has made his mark in the starting role with several impressive starts, though he really could have used some run support. Jerry Dipoto should consider making at least a move or two to help boost both either the starting rotation or the bullpen and the lineup. There was talk on Twitter yesterday about a possible trade, Paxton for Andrew Miller and Brett Gardner......interesting trade proposal huh? At first I'm thinking that its either a good/bad trade. I mean lets face it, Paxton has shown us that this year after his first bad outing that he wants to prove that he is ready to show us the hype that we have been hearing about. On the other hand though, trading Paxton for an excellent arm in the bullpen plus speed on the base paths and the outfield and a decent bat would certainly help the Mariners out in a huge way, as they are looking to make a push for the playoffs during the second half.
Adam Lind, lets talk about him shall we? I made a comparison to Richie Sexson, and I mean that Lind will strikeout and flop out most times but then comeback and hit a home run that will help us later. Lind so far this season has been a huge bust from what he did last year. By the end of the first half of last season Lind was batting .293 with 15 home runs, this season Lind has managed to hit 13 home runs but bat a very sad .232. Dae-Ho Lee on the other hand has managed to hit .288 with 12 home runs and drive in 37 while having 65 less at bats than Lind has. Lee has been getting more playing time due to his ability to consistently hit but the M's should consider looking at a possible replacement for Lind. Lind's WAR, wins above replacement, is at a very sad -0.4! The next to last in WAR for the Mariners is Nori Aoki at -0.2.
Things need to change with those two as both Lind and Aoki have been a first half bust for the Mariners, but you never know they could very well have breakout second halves. Mariners manager Scott Servias has already noted that Aoki maybe coming back to the ball club, but on the other hand who wants to see Aoki imitate George of the Jungle in the outfield again? Aoki and Lind's failures have come on both offense and defense. Aoki has been a bust defensive wise and hitting wise where as Lind has been very good defensive wise but is dismal offensive wise. In hind sight that Mark Trumbo trade that Dipoto made has truly hurt the team. Getting back though to the Lind/Aoki problem, coming from me I don't think bringing up Aoki is the best move for the Mariners. Currently the Mariners star Cuban defective Guillermo Heredia is currently in Triple-A Tacoma, and lets just say that coming up from Double-A Jackson didn't faze him a bit.
Heredia has done nothing but keep tearing the cover off the ball since he's been with the club. During his time with Double-A Jackson Heredia hit an impressive .293 with 2 home runs and 40 RBIs, not to mention that in his first 30 games in Double-A Jackson Heredia was hitting .274 with 19 RBIs and a homer to boot. During his brief time in Triple-A Tacoma Heredia hasn't cooled down one bit, as he's hit .323 in only 15 games, and to make things even better D.J. Peterson got a call up as well and has hit .341 with 3 home runs and 14 RBIs since his call up. So right now, I'm thinking that maybe both or just one maybe getting the call up very soon to replace either Lind or Aoki, only time will tell.
In the lineup currently there's not one complaint coming from me. Kyle Seager is having a career year so far and is on pace for his first 100 RBI season, Robinson Cano as well is having the best year as a Mariner, but Cruz on the other hand is having some troubles with the slider and can't seem to come up when the time is needed. Hopefully though the Mariners struggles with hitting with RISP, runners in scoring position, change now that the second half is about to start. The Big 3 for the Mariners have been nothing but huge for the Mariners this year, though Seager had a rough April but eventually picked things up, it seems that the Mariners only problem this year has been one thing and that's staying healthy as a unit. Ketel Marte and Martin both went down with injuries during May and it hurt the M's somewhat but the pitching has been the biggest concern as both the Mariners top pitchers have been having trouble avoiding the injury bug.
Again, lets just hope that the All Star break has done this team some good and that we'll see a new Mariners team, hopefully a team that doesn't fall apart, in the second half of this season. The Mariners are gonna open up the second half with a chance at redemption against the Astros, as Houston comes into Safeco for 3 games. Lets hope our boys can pay them back for that 4 game sweep. Again Felix is set to make his return on the 20th of July against the White Sox and there is a possibility that Charlie Furbush could return by August, which would indefinitely help the bullpen out. Currently I am hoping that with Felix and Taijuan coming back fully healthy they can both help this team make a huge push for the Wild Card if not the AL West. Only thing us Mariner fans can do is hope that this team and their manager can find new ways to win, comeback, and push our team into the postseason. Currently the Mariners postseason drought is the longest in MLB right now at 15 years, the last time they made it to the playoffs was during their incredible 116 win season.
Things currently don't look easy but you know the sane, where there's a will there's a way, and the Mariners need to find a way to win and I mean win a lot of games. Not looking for sweeps, which would be amazing, but right now I think Mariner fans would love to see this team take a lot of series like they were doing in May. That's the best that fans and myself can hope for at this point. As of now, in my opinion, the Mariners are even lucky that they are only 1 game over .500 and I'm honestly surprised that we didn't lose the entire last road trip. Also on another note Dipoto needs to make some serious moves to help this club. As of now the Mariners still have a chance at the postseason and if Dipoto wants to have his team playing in October then he needs to possibly trade for a pitcher, call up Heredia (but that's just what I would do), and let go a couple players who can't seem to contribute in any possible way. Let's just hope JeDi can do this and help this team make the playoffs for the first time in 15 years.
Go Mariners.
Showing posts with label Felix Hernandez. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Felix Hernandez. Show all posts
Thursday, July 14, 2016
Wednesday, April 27, 2016
First place never sounded so good
We're in the 4th week of the baseball season and lets look at the standings. HOLY CRAP! The Mariners are in first place! Really not a shocker to me. Thought I would be shocked huh? Nope I'm not one bit shocked that our Seattle Mariners are in first place at this point in the season. Reason why, simple, this team is postseason bound and bound to be in this spot. Sure the Mariners had a 5 game losing streak to start the season but lets face it, all postseason teams usually have that long losing streak but then they get over it. That's exactly what the Mariners have done, though some players batting average could be better but really there's very little to complain about with this team.
The Mariners are 9-3 in their last 12 games and have won their last 4 series, as of last night's 11-1 over the Houston Astros. Hey, another good thing to write about, we beat the Astros and took the first series of the season! So again, there are a couple of guys in the lineup that need to get their batting average up, especially Kyle Seager. Seager usually gets off to a slow start but this is ridiculous! Seager has a .133 average with 4 home runs and 10 RBIs. Not a bad line all except the batting average part. Not worried about Seager really, if you look at some of his at bats he's hitting the ball well its just he can't catch a break, he hits the damn thing so hard it doesn't have a chance to fall for a base hit.
Seager's gonna start picking things up soon, so don't be too hard on the guy. I mean let's face it, who would you rather have a third base? Exactly! Moving on to Ketel Marte, love saying his name! The young short stop has been hot as of late, raising his batting average by 105 points! In the last 15 games Marte has been on fire, batting a nice .273, and in his last 7 games he's batted a scorching .370! You know I actually need to admit that I was a little worried about Marte a couple weeks ago, but a couple of adjustments and possibly some time in the cage with Edgar has helped the young star in the making show off his potential and shut a couple people up in the process. Also, I want to put in that Marte is that guy who can provide the fire for the team. Have you seen him? I mean hell, pumping his fist after throwing out Carlos Gomez (douche bag) and celebrating after sliding in safely last night at home, this kid brings that necessary spark and fire the Mariners need in a player.
Lets talk about the pitching now eh? In the last 5 games all 5 starters have gone 7+ innings and has really helped give our bullpen a rest! The bullpen though needs some praise as well, cause lets face it without our bullpen helping us out during the last 12 games I don't think we are in first place. The bullpen is ranked as the best in the game so far, really hoping that trend continues throughout the season. Though I have to get on Felix Hernandez's case a little bit. First off Felix, lose the dorky hair. Felix has shown us that at 30 years old he may be losing a step, his velocity is way down this year and he can barley break 90 on his fastball, and during the Yankee game he through a ton of breaking balls and off speed pitches.....that's not Felix's game. Now here's the thing Felix maybe 1-2 but he does only have a 1.80 ERA, but his strikeout ratio is down and his walks are at a career high for this point in the season.
King Felix is going to be King Felix though, he's gone through rough starts and he usually bounces back, but I think this time if continues to pitch the way he is I think we have to consider that maybe his arm might be used up. Either way I have the up most confidence in the King. As for the Prince, Taijuan Walker, WHOA! That kid is pitching like a Felix Hernandez in his prime! Taijuan Walker is coming off an 11 strikeout night against the Astros and is now 2-0 with a 1.44 ERA and 25 strikeouts in 25 innings, and get this, a 0.96 WHIP! You can't get any better than that can you? Maybe you can, but currently Taijuan Walker is pitching like the pitcher that we expected him to be. Currently I'm thinking that's what has provided his hot start, Walker knew that he had a lot of pressure on him to pitch like this last year and after dropping that notion and deciding to just go out and pitch he has shown his incredible potential. Not trying to make it sound like Taijuan basically said "I'm just going to pitch every start", no what I'm saying is that Taijuan just, wait that is what I'm saying. OK never mind.
Both Wade Miley and Nathan Karns are coming off good quality starts, Karns having his best start of the season last night and Miley coming off his 7.1 innings of work in Anaheim. Both Miley and Karns got off to very rocky starts but now it seems like both are coming into their own. Miley was expected to give the Mariners 200+ innings and so far his starts has shown it, as he has gone 6+ innings in 2 of his 3 starts. Only thing Miley needs to work on is giving up runs. Miley has given up 4+ runs in 2 of his 3 starts and in those starts he's won one of those games. Karns on the other hand went 7 innings for the first time this season last night, he has only gone 5+ in his previous 2 starts, though he does have a 2-1 record so you can't complain there. Karns has yet to give up more than 5 hits in a game but his walks need to start going down, he's walk at least 3 batters in all three of his starts, but again not going to complain when he has a winning record along with a 3.63 ERA.
Now, gotta talk about Steve Cishek. Not a good start to his season as he gave up a game winning home run against the Oakland Athletics in the Mariners home opener, but since then he has not allowed a run and has saved 5 in a row and won a game. Not bad! Not bad at all, he's way better than that arrow shooting dip wad Fernando Rodney. Funny enough Rodney, who is playing for the San Diego Padres, has a 0.00 ERA and 3 saves for the Padres.......THAT SON OF A!!!!
Don't you hate it when that happens? They leave Seattle and suddenly they can play again. Well how about Robinson Cano? Currently tied for first in the American League with 7 home runs and first in RBI's with 21! Yes he only has a .238 batting average but just wait that'll change very soon. Cano is coming off a career night for the Mariners where he drove in 6 and hit his first grand slam as a Mariner and his 10th of his career! Cano also hit a milestone last night, after his two-run double he hit the 1,000 RBI mark in his career, he currently has 1,004. Another positive note is both Nelson Cruz and Leonys Martin. Both have provided some nice pop to the lineup, Martin was acquired for his speed, and he's shown that off in the outfield, but he has also hit 4 home runs as well. Only thing Martin needs to work on is the same with Seager, that batting average. The Boomstick on the other hand leads the team in batting average with a .286 average, he has also popped 4 home runs and drove in 13.
Things are so far clicking very well for the Mariners this season, with a win in their next 3 games they will secure their first winning month of April since 2009! How about that? If you all remember 2009, that was the year Ken Griffey, Jr., made his return to Seattle and the Mariners were in the midst of a playoff run through most of the season until a losing streak in September ended that bid. Everything so far is in place for the Mariners to make a run for the postseason, first in the West right now and they have a nice 1 game lead on the A's and Angels. Yes I know its only April but hey gotta report the good stuff right? Tonight Hisashi Iwakuma will try to continue the Mariners hot streak and help push their winning streak to a season high 4 games, and maybe earn his first win of the season. First pitch is at 7:10 so be glued to the TV or if you're going to the game make sure you cheer loud and proud for our boys in northwest green and navy!
Go Mariners!!!!!
Monday, March 28, 2016
The boys in teal are back with a new look!
April 4, 2016 is one week away! The Mariners come into the 2016 with a new look, a new GM, and plenty of new faces that hope to make an impact to push this team into their first postseason birth since their dramatic 116 win season back in 2001. So wait that means its been 1,2,3.....15 YEARS?! DAMMIT! Yup 15 years since the Northwest saw postseason baseball and because the stinkin Blue Jays made the postseason last year for the first time since 1993 we now have the longest postseason drought in baseball!
Yeah, that's not something I'm not going to brag about. Every year I'm always "that Mariners fan" who believes that this is the year we "finally do it", the year we finally win it all. To tell you the truth....its a possibility. With Jerry Dipoto the new GM he's done more than that bald idiot Jack Zduriencik did in his short brief time with the team.
Dipoto kicked off his Mariner GM career by making a huge splash to the season by trading Brad Miller, Logan Morrison, and Danny Farqhuar to the Tampa Bay Rays for Boog Powell, Nathan Karns, and C.J. Riefenhauser (who was traded a month later). JeDi, as I call him, then decided to go mad! He went mad! MAD I TELL YOU! Mad enough to make to sign Nori Aoki, trade for Adam Lind, trade for Leonys Martin, sign Chris Iannetta, resigned Hisashi Iwakuma, resigned Franklin Gutierrez, traded for Wade Miley, signed closer Steve Cishek, traded for Joaquin Benoit, signed Korean slugger Dae-Ho Lee, and signed Cuban slugger Guillermo Heredia.
As you can see JeDi has made some incredible moves that has given the 2016 Seattle Mariners more depth pitching and hitting wise that the Mariners have a great chance to not just make the postseason but possibly be a contender for both the American League West title and the AL pennant. If you look at the Mariners right now and told me that "this team isn't going to make a splash all season long" I would say you're dead wrong!
Lets take a look at the pitching shall we? The rotation is still undecided with the number 5 starter but currently we're going to see Felix Hernandez, Hisashi Iwakuma, Wade Miley, Taijuan Walker, and either James Paxton or Nathan Karns. So looking at the rotation to me.....I'm seeing 4 possible win right off the bat, that is if the hitting backs up the pitching. Felix is going to be Felix this year, that's for certain, he is coming off another stellar season but his strikeout rate took a dip and his ERA was the highest its been since 2011.
Felix is coming into Spring Training about to turn 30 and he has blonde hair and goatee. Felix is perhaps the player that will begin the season with one thought in his mind. and that thought is "this season is our year". Yes, I know all players have to be thinking that but Felix is coming into his 12th season without even 1 playoff game appearance. Felix has noted that as well, he's frustrated at the fact that he's about to be 30 and he's been in the league for over 10 years and never pitched in a postseason game.
Felix is not only holding himself to pitch like his career is on the line this year but he's holding himself to personally get this team to the postseason. My expectation for the King this year is this, watch him get 20 wins! Felix is pushing himself this year to perhaps pitch even better than his 2014 season, and with determination like that who can argue that he wont win 20 games this year?
Let's now talk about the Prince, the Fresh Prince of Seattle that is. Taijuan Walker is coming off his first full season in the majors and it looked like Walker was going to bomb it when he started. Walker went 1-5 with a 7.33 ERA in his first 9 starts, but after that he was a totally different pitcher. Walker went 10-3 for the rest of the season while keeping his ERA below 3 during that stretch. Walker is on my "breakout player" watch for this season. Walker will open the season at home in the Mariners home opener against the Oakland Athletics. This season I'm saying Walker is going to knockout 18 wins along with being an All Star and don't be surprised if you see a Fresh Prince no-no this year.
Kuma and Miley are even when I look at both of them. Kuma is coming off a 9-5 season where he tossed the Mariners fifth no hitter in franchise history against the Baltimore Orioles. Miley on the other hand is coming off a .500 record season with the Boston Red Sox, where he went 11-11 with a 4.46 ERA......not that impressive huh? Wrong, Miley may have lost 11 games but he was consistent, he went 6+ innings 22 times out of his 32 starts. Look you may not think that's still impressive but lets face it, last year the Mariners bullpen usually had to work 5 innings! We may have given up Carson Smith and Roenis Elias but hey if Miley can give us 6+ in 20+ starts I wont complain.
Kuma and Miley are on my radar to win around 14-15 games this year, maybe 16 with Kuma but I think 13-14 is more around Miley's reach. Now with the #5 starter you have both Paxton and Karns. Both are going to battle it out to the very end in Spring Training, that's when new manager Scott Servias will make his decision and name one of them the #5 starter. The way I look at it, whoever doesn't get the starting job is getting placed in the bullpen to be a long inning reliever in case our starter cant seem to do anything.
Paxton however is coming off another injury plagued season where a strained tendon in his left middle finger benched him in May and wouldn't see him pitch until September and he only made 3 starts in that month. Paxton finished the year with a 3-4 record with a 3.90 ERA. Paxton though is now still healthy in Spring Training and he lost 30 pounds during the off season, but Spring Training hasn't been nice to Paxton or any M's pitcher, but if Paxton gets the #5 starting role watch him win around 11-15 games, that is if he stays healthy.
Karns on the other hand hasn't had a good Spring Training either, but again like I said which Mariners pitcher has? Karns is coming off a 7-5 season with the Rays with a 3.67 ERA in 26 games started. Karns was part of the Miller/LoMo trade and currently I'm thinking Karns maybe put in the bullpen over Paxton. But Karns' strength is all there. Either way if Karns is starting or in the bullpen he has the ability to help you win a ball game. Karns struck out 145 batters in the 147 innings he pitched last season. Its going to be interesting to see who gets the job, whoever does I've got Paxton at 11-15 wins and Karns at 12-13.
Lets talk bullpen now. Charlie Furbush wont be in the bullpen to help out to start the season and don't expect him to for perhaps the first 2-3 weeks in the season. But in the bullpen we have a group of both young and experienced players pitching that will both help keep the Mariners in the ball game and help close out wins. First you have Tony Zych who's coming off his rookie year appearing in 18 games and starting 1, he had a 2.45 ERA with 24 strikeouts in 18.1 of work. While Charlie is out look for Tony to be your possible 6-8th inning man in close games.
Steve Cishek is your closer. While with the Miami Marlins he saved 88 games in 3 years and this past season he was used more as a set up guy. Lets face it, now with Carson Smith gone and that arrow shooting dip wad Rodney gone Cishek is your guy in the 9th. Before Cishek we will see Benoit to come into the 7th and 8th possibly to help keep the game within save rage for Cishek. Benoit is now coming into his 15th season and even though he's 38 he can still pitch. With age comes wisdom and Benoit has shown that, since 2010 his ERA hasn't been above 3 but one time.
The bullpen also has guys like Evan Scribner, who has one unbelievable walk to strikeout rate! Scribner in his 5 year career has 134 strikeouts and 27 walks in 147.2 innings pitched.......yeah he's that damn good! There's also Mike Montgomery who's coming off a good rookie year but struggled through the last half of the season. Montgomery will at least provide the bullpen with one of two left handed pitchers, the second is Vidal Nuno.
This year will be a whole new story for the bullpen, it'll definitely be better than last year that's for damn sure! This year watch the bullpen's ERA to hover around the 2.90-3.20 area. There doesn't seem to be any weakness in the bullpen for the Mariners, only thing that could be better is having Furbush to start the season but again I think the Mariners will be ok bullpen wise till his return.
Now, we come to the offense and this amazing group JeDi has put together. Lets first start off with our awesome second baseman Robinson Cano who is coming off an injury plagued season but did very well. Cano struggled during the first half of the season but caught fire in the second half, he finished the season with a .287 average, 21 home runs, and 79 runs batted in. Cano did strikeout a career high 107 times, it was the first time he ever struck out more than 100 times in his career. Cano though has been showing us he's fully ready for the real season to begin!
Just yesterday Cano crushed 3 home runs and drove in 7 runs. Watch out Mike Trout and Josh Donaldson cause you have some competition for the AL MVP. Yes, the AL MVP! Cano is ready to show that the Mariners aren't getting an age declining player. Be on the watch for Cano to smack 50+ doubles this season, while not only hitting 25+ home runs and driving in around 90-100 RBI's. Cano isn't just the only perennial All Star that Scott Servias's lineup has to offer. Let's not forget the "BOOMSTICK" Nelson Cruz, who is coming off his best season hitting wise in his career.
Nelson Cruz showed that even Safeco Field can be a hitter friendly ballpark. Cruz smacked a career high 44 home runs, drove in 93, and batted .302. Kyle Seager is another member of the Mariners Big 3 who is coming off a season that saw him clobber a career high 26 home runs. Cano, Cruz, and Seager are going to be the key players that really will provide the power, the hitting, and driving in runs ability for the team, not only that but now the Mariners have another power bat in Adam Lind.
Lind was acquired via trade from the Milwaukee Brewers, where he hit 20 home runs and drove in 87. Lind is not just providing another necessary power bat in the lineup but he's providing his glove to the mix as well. Lind is coming off a stellar defensive season with the Brewers and is going to be the everyday first basemen for the team. Backing Lind up though is the Korean slugger Dae-Ho Lee. This signing by Dipoto was highly crucial. With Jesus Montero's future with the team seeming bleak, Dipoto decided to go out and sign a guy who seems to get better the older he gets.
DHL came into the spring though weighing in at 282 pounds but has since then lost 32 pounds. Not bad huh? Lee slugged 31 home runs last year and drove in 98 for the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks. Lee is not just providing a player that can hit the long ball but again he's got something that Montero obviously doesn't have. A great glove. Just watching Lee in Spring Training he's made some great plays that Montero wouldn't have been able to make.
And while writing this I just found out that Paxton got optioned to Triple-A Tacoma......huh. How bout that writing and saw the news on Twitter. So looks like Nathan Karns is your #5 starter!
Getting back to both Lind and Lee look for both players to provide support in the lineup that will help provide driving in and creating runs for the team. I have Lind having another 20 homer season while with Lee could show us between 10-15 home runs.
Looking at the Mariners outfield all I can say is, what an upgrade! With Martin and Aoki getting signed and traded to the team we now have two great gloves in the outfield that the M's were lacking last season. Also Guti is still with us. Last year saw perhaps one of the greatest comeback seasons I've ever seen. With Guti possibly sharing a role with Seth Smith look to see Guti being in the lineup 3-4 times a week.
The Mariners also got faster this year. Aoki, Ketel Marte, Guti, and Shawn O'Malley (if he makes the opening day roster) will provide something that Lloyd McClendon didn't have, guys who can steal bases. That'll be something that the Mariners will need to do this season and that's steal more bases. As you saw with the Kansas City Royals stealing bases can win you games and a World Series. Also when you have speed in your lineup and on your bench......USE IT!!!
Behind the plate is Chris Iannetta, who some people didn't seem to like the signing. Come on people lets face it Iannetta is going to do something that Mike Zunino will be learning how to do in Triple-A Tacoma.......how to actually hit the ball. Yes Iannetta is coming off a season where he hit .188, so basically a Mike Z type of season, but he's still a career .231 hitter. Iannetta will also be providing a great arm behind the plate as well. Iannetta isn't Yadi Molina but hey he's definitely and upgrade to Mike Zunino.
So, I think I'm done talking about everyone who we will see this season to start the season against the Texas Rangers. Everything comes down to this final week of preparation for the Mariners, everything is counting on everyone staying healthy and injury free. In just seven days, and I can honestly say that I'm highly confident, the Mariners will begin their journey into baseball immortality. This is by far the season that I know that this team, who has struggled through out most of its franchise history, is ready to take that step to get back into the spotlight they had 15 years ago. The Mariners on paper are the team to beat! Even the Royals, who are the defending champs, have some competition with the Mariners. The M's have the pitching, defense, and offensive depth to pull off a playoff/pennant run this season.
A lot of skepticism is on this team, time for the Mariners to prove every doubter wrong and go out and PLAY BALL!!!!
Go Mariners!!!!!
Yeah, that's not something I'm not going to brag about. Every year I'm always "that Mariners fan" who believes that this is the year we "finally do it", the year we finally win it all. To tell you the truth....its a possibility. With Jerry Dipoto the new GM he's done more than that bald idiot Jack Zduriencik did in his short brief time with the team.
Dipoto kicked off his Mariner GM career by making a huge splash to the season by trading Brad Miller, Logan Morrison, and Danny Farqhuar to the Tampa Bay Rays for Boog Powell, Nathan Karns, and C.J. Riefenhauser (who was traded a month later). JeDi, as I call him, then decided to go mad! He went mad! MAD I TELL YOU! Mad enough to make to sign Nori Aoki, trade for Adam Lind, trade for Leonys Martin, sign Chris Iannetta, resigned Hisashi Iwakuma, resigned Franklin Gutierrez, traded for Wade Miley, signed closer Steve Cishek, traded for Joaquin Benoit, signed Korean slugger Dae-Ho Lee, and signed Cuban slugger Guillermo Heredia.
As you can see JeDi has made some incredible moves that has given the 2016 Seattle Mariners more depth pitching and hitting wise that the Mariners have a great chance to not just make the postseason but possibly be a contender for both the American League West title and the AL pennant. If you look at the Mariners right now and told me that "this team isn't going to make a splash all season long" I would say you're dead wrong!
Lets take a look at the pitching shall we? The rotation is still undecided with the number 5 starter but currently we're going to see Felix Hernandez, Hisashi Iwakuma, Wade Miley, Taijuan Walker, and either James Paxton or Nathan Karns. So looking at the rotation to me.....I'm seeing 4 possible win right off the bat, that is if the hitting backs up the pitching. Felix is going to be Felix this year, that's for certain, he is coming off another stellar season but his strikeout rate took a dip and his ERA was the highest its been since 2011.
Felix is coming into Spring Training about to turn 30 and he has blonde hair and goatee. Felix is perhaps the player that will begin the season with one thought in his mind. and that thought is "this season is our year". Yes, I know all players have to be thinking that but Felix is coming into his 12th season without even 1 playoff game appearance. Felix has noted that as well, he's frustrated at the fact that he's about to be 30 and he's been in the league for over 10 years and never pitched in a postseason game.
Felix is not only holding himself to pitch like his career is on the line this year but he's holding himself to personally get this team to the postseason. My expectation for the King this year is this, watch him get 20 wins! Felix is pushing himself this year to perhaps pitch even better than his 2014 season, and with determination like that who can argue that he wont win 20 games this year?
Let's now talk about the Prince, the Fresh Prince of Seattle that is. Taijuan Walker is coming off his first full season in the majors and it looked like Walker was going to bomb it when he started. Walker went 1-5 with a 7.33 ERA in his first 9 starts, but after that he was a totally different pitcher. Walker went 10-3 for the rest of the season while keeping his ERA below 3 during that stretch. Walker is on my "breakout player" watch for this season. Walker will open the season at home in the Mariners home opener against the Oakland Athletics. This season I'm saying Walker is going to knockout 18 wins along with being an All Star and don't be surprised if you see a Fresh Prince no-no this year.
Kuma and Miley are even when I look at both of them. Kuma is coming off a 9-5 season where he tossed the Mariners fifth no hitter in franchise history against the Baltimore Orioles. Miley on the other hand is coming off a .500 record season with the Boston Red Sox, where he went 11-11 with a 4.46 ERA......not that impressive huh? Wrong, Miley may have lost 11 games but he was consistent, he went 6+ innings 22 times out of his 32 starts. Look you may not think that's still impressive but lets face it, last year the Mariners bullpen usually had to work 5 innings! We may have given up Carson Smith and Roenis Elias but hey if Miley can give us 6+ in 20+ starts I wont complain.
Kuma and Miley are on my radar to win around 14-15 games this year, maybe 16 with Kuma but I think 13-14 is more around Miley's reach. Now with the #5 starter you have both Paxton and Karns. Both are going to battle it out to the very end in Spring Training, that's when new manager Scott Servias will make his decision and name one of them the #5 starter. The way I look at it, whoever doesn't get the starting job is getting placed in the bullpen to be a long inning reliever in case our starter cant seem to do anything.
Paxton however is coming off another injury plagued season where a strained tendon in his left middle finger benched him in May and wouldn't see him pitch until September and he only made 3 starts in that month. Paxton finished the year with a 3-4 record with a 3.90 ERA. Paxton though is now still healthy in Spring Training and he lost 30 pounds during the off season, but Spring Training hasn't been nice to Paxton or any M's pitcher, but if Paxton gets the #5 starting role watch him win around 11-15 games, that is if he stays healthy.
Karns on the other hand hasn't had a good Spring Training either, but again like I said which Mariners pitcher has? Karns is coming off a 7-5 season with the Rays with a 3.67 ERA in 26 games started. Karns was part of the Miller/LoMo trade and currently I'm thinking Karns maybe put in the bullpen over Paxton. But Karns' strength is all there. Either way if Karns is starting or in the bullpen he has the ability to help you win a ball game. Karns struck out 145 batters in the 147 innings he pitched last season. Its going to be interesting to see who gets the job, whoever does I've got Paxton at 11-15 wins and Karns at 12-13.
Lets talk bullpen now. Charlie Furbush wont be in the bullpen to help out to start the season and don't expect him to for perhaps the first 2-3 weeks in the season. But in the bullpen we have a group of both young and experienced players pitching that will both help keep the Mariners in the ball game and help close out wins. First you have Tony Zych who's coming off his rookie year appearing in 18 games and starting 1, he had a 2.45 ERA with 24 strikeouts in 18.1 of work. While Charlie is out look for Tony to be your possible 6-8th inning man in close games.
Steve Cishek is your closer. While with the Miami Marlins he saved 88 games in 3 years and this past season he was used more as a set up guy. Lets face it, now with Carson Smith gone and that arrow shooting dip wad Rodney gone Cishek is your guy in the 9th. Before Cishek we will see Benoit to come into the 7th and 8th possibly to help keep the game within save rage for Cishek. Benoit is now coming into his 15th season and even though he's 38 he can still pitch. With age comes wisdom and Benoit has shown that, since 2010 his ERA hasn't been above 3 but one time.
The bullpen also has guys like Evan Scribner, who has one unbelievable walk to strikeout rate! Scribner in his 5 year career has 134 strikeouts and 27 walks in 147.2 innings pitched.......yeah he's that damn good! There's also Mike Montgomery who's coming off a good rookie year but struggled through the last half of the season. Montgomery will at least provide the bullpen with one of two left handed pitchers, the second is Vidal Nuno.
This year will be a whole new story for the bullpen, it'll definitely be better than last year that's for damn sure! This year watch the bullpen's ERA to hover around the 2.90-3.20 area. There doesn't seem to be any weakness in the bullpen for the Mariners, only thing that could be better is having Furbush to start the season but again I think the Mariners will be ok bullpen wise till his return.
Now, we come to the offense and this amazing group JeDi has put together. Lets first start off with our awesome second baseman Robinson Cano who is coming off an injury plagued season but did very well. Cano struggled during the first half of the season but caught fire in the second half, he finished the season with a .287 average, 21 home runs, and 79 runs batted in. Cano did strikeout a career high 107 times, it was the first time he ever struck out more than 100 times in his career. Cano though has been showing us he's fully ready for the real season to begin!
Just yesterday Cano crushed 3 home runs and drove in 7 runs. Watch out Mike Trout and Josh Donaldson cause you have some competition for the AL MVP. Yes, the AL MVP! Cano is ready to show that the Mariners aren't getting an age declining player. Be on the watch for Cano to smack 50+ doubles this season, while not only hitting 25+ home runs and driving in around 90-100 RBI's. Cano isn't just the only perennial All Star that Scott Servias's lineup has to offer. Let's not forget the "BOOMSTICK" Nelson Cruz, who is coming off his best season hitting wise in his career.
Nelson Cruz showed that even Safeco Field can be a hitter friendly ballpark. Cruz smacked a career high 44 home runs, drove in 93, and batted .302. Kyle Seager is another member of the Mariners Big 3 who is coming off a season that saw him clobber a career high 26 home runs. Cano, Cruz, and Seager are going to be the key players that really will provide the power, the hitting, and driving in runs ability for the team, not only that but now the Mariners have another power bat in Adam Lind.
Lind was acquired via trade from the Milwaukee Brewers, where he hit 20 home runs and drove in 87. Lind is not just providing another necessary power bat in the lineup but he's providing his glove to the mix as well. Lind is coming off a stellar defensive season with the Brewers and is going to be the everyday first basemen for the team. Backing Lind up though is the Korean slugger Dae-Ho Lee. This signing by Dipoto was highly crucial. With Jesus Montero's future with the team seeming bleak, Dipoto decided to go out and sign a guy who seems to get better the older he gets.
DHL came into the spring though weighing in at 282 pounds but has since then lost 32 pounds. Not bad huh? Lee slugged 31 home runs last year and drove in 98 for the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks. Lee is not just providing a player that can hit the long ball but again he's got something that Montero obviously doesn't have. A great glove. Just watching Lee in Spring Training he's made some great plays that Montero wouldn't have been able to make.
And while writing this I just found out that Paxton got optioned to Triple-A Tacoma......huh. How bout that writing and saw the news on Twitter. So looks like Nathan Karns is your #5 starter!
Getting back to both Lind and Lee look for both players to provide support in the lineup that will help provide driving in and creating runs for the team. I have Lind having another 20 homer season while with Lee could show us between 10-15 home runs.
Looking at the Mariners outfield all I can say is, what an upgrade! With Martin and Aoki getting signed and traded to the team we now have two great gloves in the outfield that the M's were lacking last season. Also Guti is still with us. Last year saw perhaps one of the greatest comeback seasons I've ever seen. With Guti possibly sharing a role with Seth Smith look to see Guti being in the lineup 3-4 times a week.
The Mariners also got faster this year. Aoki, Ketel Marte, Guti, and Shawn O'Malley (if he makes the opening day roster) will provide something that Lloyd McClendon didn't have, guys who can steal bases. That'll be something that the Mariners will need to do this season and that's steal more bases. As you saw with the Kansas City Royals stealing bases can win you games and a World Series. Also when you have speed in your lineup and on your bench......USE IT!!!
Behind the plate is Chris Iannetta, who some people didn't seem to like the signing. Come on people lets face it Iannetta is going to do something that Mike Zunino will be learning how to do in Triple-A Tacoma.......how to actually hit the ball. Yes Iannetta is coming off a season where he hit .188, so basically a Mike Z type of season, but he's still a career .231 hitter. Iannetta will also be providing a great arm behind the plate as well. Iannetta isn't Yadi Molina but hey he's definitely and upgrade to Mike Zunino.
So, I think I'm done talking about everyone who we will see this season to start the season against the Texas Rangers. Everything comes down to this final week of preparation for the Mariners, everything is counting on everyone staying healthy and injury free. In just seven days, and I can honestly say that I'm highly confident, the Mariners will begin their journey into baseball immortality. This is by far the season that I know that this team, who has struggled through out most of its franchise history, is ready to take that step to get back into the spotlight they had 15 years ago. The Mariners on paper are the team to beat! Even the Royals, who are the defending champs, have some competition with the Mariners. The M's have the pitching, defense, and offensive depth to pull off a playoff/pennant run this season.
A lot of skepticism is on this team, time for the Mariners to prove every doubter wrong and go out and PLAY BALL!!!!
Go Mariners!!!!!
Saturday, October 3, 2015
Will Jerry Dipoto take the Mariners far?
Welcome to Seattle Jerry Dipoto! The Mariners newest general manager was introduced just this past Monday and so far I love the guy! Dipoto has noted the problems the Mariners have and has said that he is planning on making sure that each problem is taken care of. Manager Lloyd McClendon has been link to speculations that his job and him coming back next season maybe in jeopardy. ESPN's Jim Bowden noted saying that Dipoto wants to take some time to get to know McClendon before making any decisions. Dipoto was quoted saying that the Mariners OF is the position that needs to be taken care of first, with free agents like Dexter Fowler and Denard Span on the market for this upcoming off season.....not bad targets to help boost the outfield huh?
Dipoto was asked by Seattle Times writer Larry Stone if a Felix Hernandez trade or looking for other opinions besides Nelson Cruz was in the mix. Felix is coming up on 30 years old, which is the typical age that players seem to decline, and Cruz is 35 and has just come off back-to-back 40 home run seasons but Dipoto shot both notions down.
Brad Miller and James Paxton are two high trade targets, even with Paxton's injury plagued 2014-15 seasons, and could be moved possibly this off season for other targets that could help the Mariners this upcoming season. This Tuesday on Mariners Talk podcast both me and Russell will go into more details about who the Mariners could trade for and which team could use both Miller and Paxton. Ketel Marte has the shortstop position locked up possibly. But what about the first basemen position and two other possible outfield spots along with the starting pitching and bullpen? Dipoto faces a difficult off season ahead of him.
Hisashi Iwakuma is up for free agency this upcoming off season so I'm pretty sure that Dipoto will want to lock him up for a couple more years, but what about David Price or Johnny Cueto? Both Price and Cueto are perhaps the highest valued pitchers on the free agency, so is Dipoto going to try and strengthen the starting role with a big signing like Price or Cueto along with Max Scherzer? All three will go off the market quick in my opinion, but again there still leaves the bullpen, first base, and the outfield. Mark Trumbo or Jesus Monterto will take control of that role, now as for the outfield Cruz has RF locked up but CF and LF are missing. . .so who does Dipoto go after for those two spots?
Jason Heyward, Fowler, Span, and Yoenis Cespedes are all up for grabs. Heyward first off is going to be staying in St.Louis so I'll take him off the list but that leaves Fowler, Span, and Cespedes. Cespedes has done nothing but help the NY Mets get to the postseason for the first time in nine years and to be honest I'm not sure the Mets are going to be able to hold onto to him, so there's where Dipoto comes in and snags one helluva free agent pickup! So, that takes care of LF so now all that's left is CF.
Fowler and Span are the two candidates that are really the only guys that I would consider Dipoto going after. Span is having hip surgery so the question people are asking is this "will Span be the same Span after his surgery"? Good question, if he doesn't have the speed he used to then Fowler is the guy you need. Fowler is going on 30 but the guy still has the speed and the glove to help the Mariners out in a big way.
This Tuesday you can tune into Mariners Talk podcast at 7 PST and hear me and Russell talk about these topics and more.
Dipoto was asked by Seattle Times writer Larry Stone if a Felix Hernandez trade or looking for other opinions besides Nelson Cruz was in the mix. Felix is coming up on 30 years old, which is the typical age that players seem to decline, and Cruz is 35 and has just come off back-to-back 40 home run seasons but Dipoto shot both notions down.
Brad Miller and James Paxton are two high trade targets, even with Paxton's injury plagued 2014-15 seasons, and could be moved possibly this off season for other targets that could help the Mariners this upcoming season. This Tuesday on Mariners Talk podcast both me and Russell will go into more details about who the Mariners could trade for and which team could use both Miller and Paxton. Ketel Marte has the shortstop position locked up possibly. But what about the first basemen position and two other possible outfield spots along with the starting pitching and bullpen? Dipoto faces a difficult off season ahead of him.
Hisashi Iwakuma is up for free agency this upcoming off season so I'm pretty sure that Dipoto will want to lock him up for a couple more years, but what about David Price or Johnny Cueto? Both Price and Cueto are perhaps the highest valued pitchers on the free agency, so is Dipoto going to try and strengthen the starting role with a big signing like Price or Cueto along with Max Scherzer? All three will go off the market quick in my opinion, but again there still leaves the bullpen, first base, and the outfield. Mark Trumbo or Jesus Monterto will take control of that role, now as for the outfield Cruz has RF locked up but CF and LF are missing. . .so who does Dipoto go after for those two spots?
Jason Heyward, Fowler, Span, and Yoenis Cespedes are all up for grabs. Heyward first off is going to be staying in St.Louis so I'll take him off the list but that leaves Fowler, Span, and Cespedes. Cespedes has done nothing but help the NY Mets get to the postseason for the first time in nine years and to be honest I'm not sure the Mets are going to be able to hold onto to him, so there's where Dipoto comes in and snags one helluva free agent pickup! So, that takes care of LF so now all that's left is CF.
Fowler and Span are the two candidates that are really the only guys that I would consider Dipoto going after. Span is having hip surgery so the question people are asking is this "will Span be the same Span after his surgery"? Good question, if he doesn't have the speed he used to then Fowler is the guy you need. Fowler is going on 30 but the guy still has the speed and the glove to help the Mariners out in a big way.
This Tuesday you can tune into Mariners Talk podcast at 7 PST and hear me and Russell talk about these topics and more.
Friday, March 13, 2015
Mariners 25 man Opening Day roster projection
So far this Mariners spring training has shown us a lot of good things to come. Not just with Nelson Cruz but with players you didn't see coming. Players like David Rollins and Tyler Olson are making some noise, both are two pitchers nobody saw coming.
Both pitchers have been on fire this spring. Rollins has appeared in 4 games 4 innings with 4 strikeouts and Olson has been just as impressive going 5 innings in 3 games with 8 strikeouts in 3 games!
Both of these young pitchers could make the Mariners Opening Day 25 man roster, but they may not which is why I'm ready to give my projection for the M's Opening Day roster. And yes I know that Opening Day is a little over 4 weeks away but I still believe that these 25 guys will be the key for the Mariners to make a charge this season towards getting back to the postseason for the first time since their 116 win season. I also believe that this year's Mariners team will make a push towards winning the team's first World Series ever!
Lets begin with my projected pitchers shall I? I know your answer and its yes so I'll start off with my 5 man rotation.
1. Felix Hernandez
2. Hisashi Iwakuma
3. J.A. Happ
4. Taijuan Walker
5. James Paxton
There's your starting 5 rotation. Now I think most people would be saying right now "Yeah out of 4 of those guys I think your right but Walker come on dude!" Well here's the thing.....Walker is ready to show all you jerky haters out there what he's made of! Seriously Walker has been impressive this spring, yes again I effing know its spring training and don't give the old "look at Brad Miller last year" crap on me.
Walker has made a big impact this spring training in his 2 starts he's gone 5 innings and struck out 6 batters. His changeup and breaking ball have shown that he's ready to prove he was worth not trading as so many people wanted Jack Z to do with Walker. I truly believe that Walker will have a season worth remembering, including 10+ wins!
Now for our bullpen guys.
Danny Farqhuar
Charlie Furbush
Dominic Leone (setup guy)
Fernando Rodney (closer)
David Rollins
Tyler Olson
Carson Smith
Tom Wilhelmsen
There so far that's 13 spots filled. Now you see that Olson and Rollins are on my projected roster and I've already given my thoughts on why they should make the team so there's no point in discussing that. Although there is something I should interject about the bullpen. Let's say Olson or Rollins doesn't make the team, I actually have Danny Hultzen as a wild card to make the ball club. The Mariners may not use him as a starter but they could use him or Roenis Elias as a long innings reliever so there's my thoughts on that.
And now lets move onto my final 12 spots on the roster.
Catchers
Mike Zunino
Jesus Sucre
Infielders
Robinson Cano
Kyle Seager
Logan Morrison
Chris Taylor
Brad Miller
Rickie Weeks (OF)
Outfielders
Dustin Ackley
Nelson Cruz
Austin Jackson
Seth Smith
There's my starting 25! Now I will give my wild card players who will be in the call ups/injury replacement categories. Now D.J. Peterson may get the call up early in the season so we might see him in late June or early/late July.
Endy Chavez, James Jones, Justin Ruggiano, Stefen Romero, Willie Bloomquist, Jesus Montero, John Hicks, Patrick Kivlehan, and Franklin Guiterrez all will be in the same category as Peterson. Now, most people may not agree with my projected lineup but I would say about 22-23 of the players I picked will make the team but I do believe that all 25 will make the cut.
Both pitchers have been on fire this spring. Rollins has appeared in 4 games 4 innings with 4 strikeouts and Olson has been just as impressive going 5 innings in 3 games with 8 strikeouts in 3 games!
Both of these young pitchers could make the Mariners Opening Day 25 man roster, but they may not which is why I'm ready to give my projection for the M's Opening Day roster. And yes I know that Opening Day is a little over 4 weeks away but I still believe that these 25 guys will be the key for the Mariners to make a charge this season towards getting back to the postseason for the first time since their 116 win season. I also believe that this year's Mariners team will make a push towards winning the team's first World Series ever!
Lets begin with my projected pitchers shall I? I know your answer and its yes so I'll start off with my 5 man rotation.
1. Felix Hernandez
2. Hisashi Iwakuma
3. J.A. Happ
4. Taijuan Walker
5. James Paxton
There's your starting 5 rotation. Now I think most people would be saying right now "Yeah out of 4 of those guys I think your right but Walker come on dude!" Well here's the thing.....Walker is ready to show all you jerky haters out there what he's made of! Seriously Walker has been impressive this spring, yes again I effing know its spring training and don't give the old "look at Brad Miller last year" crap on me.
Walker has made a big impact this spring training in his 2 starts he's gone 5 innings and struck out 6 batters. His changeup and breaking ball have shown that he's ready to prove he was worth not trading as so many people wanted Jack Z to do with Walker. I truly believe that Walker will have a season worth remembering, including 10+ wins!
Now for our bullpen guys.
Danny Farqhuar
Charlie Furbush
Dominic Leone (setup guy)
Fernando Rodney (closer)
David Rollins
Tyler Olson
Carson Smith
Tom Wilhelmsen
There so far that's 13 spots filled. Now you see that Olson and Rollins are on my projected roster and I've already given my thoughts on why they should make the team so there's no point in discussing that. Although there is something I should interject about the bullpen. Let's say Olson or Rollins doesn't make the team, I actually have Danny Hultzen as a wild card to make the ball club. The Mariners may not use him as a starter but they could use him or Roenis Elias as a long innings reliever so there's my thoughts on that.
And now lets move onto my final 12 spots on the roster.
Catchers
Mike Zunino
Jesus Sucre
Infielders
Robinson Cano
Kyle Seager
Logan Morrison
Chris Taylor
Brad Miller
Rickie Weeks (OF)
Outfielders
Dustin Ackley
Nelson Cruz
Austin Jackson
Seth Smith
There's my starting 25! Now I will give my wild card players who will be in the call ups/injury replacement categories. Now D.J. Peterson may get the call up early in the season so we might see him in late June or early/late July.
Endy Chavez, James Jones, Justin Ruggiano, Stefen Romero, Willie Bloomquist, Jesus Montero, John Hicks, Patrick Kivlehan, and Franklin Guiterrez all will be in the same category as Peterson. Now, most people may not agree with my projected lineup but I would say about 22-23 of the players I picked will make the team but I do believe that all 25 will make the cut.
Monday, May 19, 2014
Mariners Talk Podcast Episode 4
On this edition Gary Hill from 710 ESPN Seattle joins me and we discuss the Mariners, our top 10 favorite Mariners games of all time, and we go into the upcoming week for the Mariners
http://recordings.talkshoe.com/TC-129537/TS-861622.mp3
http://recordings.talkshoe.com/TC-129537/TS-861622.mp3
Monday, April 21, 2014
SeaTalk Intenitonal Podcast Mariners Talk Episode 3
http://recordings.talkshoe.com/TC-129537/TS-852261.mp3
Saturday, April 19, 2014
Sunday, April 13, 2014
Saturday, April 12, 2014
Felix bullies the A's in home debut
What do you get when you have 38,968 fans and 25,000 have yellow shirts and K cards? You get the first Supreme Court of the season and King Felix Hernandez didn't disappoint the fans. The day before this game he and Macklemore did a commercial for the #ChangeTheGame campaign for anti-bullying but boy it seemed he didn't want to promote anti-bullying against the Athletics.
Felix improved to 3-0 for the first time in his major league career and also improved his record against the A's to 17-7 in 31 starts with a 2.60 ERA. Though the bullpen nearly fell apart in the top of the eighth, thankfully they were able to hold the A's off and Fernando Rodney shut the door and shot his arrow to finish off the A's.
The Mariners offense the other night was only able to get one hit of Angels starter Garrett Richards, tonight was different story as the M's hitters decided to pound the A's pitching staff with 12 hits. Abraham Almonte got things started with the first pitch as he drilled a line drive to left and thanks to his amazing speed he was able to leg out his third double of the year, following that Brad Miller laid down a bunt that turned into a base hit thanks again to speed.
If you remember early this year the Yankees coaching staff said that Robinson Cano never hustled........well things change, Cano legged out his second infield hit of the season and on the play Almonte scored the first run of the game.The Mariners were able to load the bases with one out, but unfortunately Kyle Seager popped out on a high 3-2 pitch and Stefen Romero struck out on an off speed pitch and so A's starter Tommy Milone escaped the first with minimal damage.
Lets talk more about King Felix. Felix began the game off by retiring the first 10 batters he faced and struck out 6 batters in the first four innings. Felix continued his domination while his offense decided to give their King the run support he deserves.
The bottom of the fourth started off on what looked like a lead off home run by Seager but after replay review it turned out that Seager just missed his first home run of the year by a few feet, so after running around the bases and thinking he finally got that big hit he was searching for he ended up striking out on the next pitch, Romero struck out as well on another off speed pitch. So with two outs the Mariners decided to put the 2000 slogan to work again "2 outs so what?".
Dustin Ackley got his second hit of the game and following that Mike Zunino grounded to Josh Donaldson who's throw went wide and into the crowd which allowed Ackley to score Zunino was then able to score on another error by the A's and so the M's pushed their third run across.
The Mariners added two more runs in the bottom of the sixth. Ackley got things started with a half swinging single to left and following his single Zunino drove an inside pitch into the A's bullpen to give the M's a 5-0 lead. After a pitching change by the Athletics Brad Miller showed off his impressive power swing by driving a long one over the center field wall for his third homer of the season and pushing the Mariners lead to 6-0. After the sixth inning Felix went out and struck out the side to push his strikeout total to 11 for the night and while the M's were up to bat Felix decided that he wanted to throw one more inning even with 100 pitches under his belt.
Felix hit the first batter he saw in the eighth and then gave up a single to Eric Sogard. Lloyd McClendon then made the smart decision of coming out to relieve Felix of his duties for the night, and so Felix walked off to a standing ovation from 38,000+ fans giving thanks to the King for one amazing night.
The Mariners bullpen though was not as hot as Felix was, Lucas Luetge was brought in and walked the first batter he saw on four straight pitches so McClendon decided to relieve Luetge and give Danny Farqhuar a shot. That didn't fan out as great as McClendon intended, as Farqhuar walked Jed Lowrie with the bases loaded so that brought the A's first run home, Farqhuar was able to strike out Donaldson but McClendon went to the bullpen for the third time in the inning and brought in Charlie Furbush to try and stop the bleeding.
Furbush gave up an RBI single to Brandon Moss which made it 6-2, following that Yoenis Cespedes legged out a fielder's choice and on the play Sam Fuld scored and made it a 3 run ball game. To make things worse Furbush threw a wild pitch that allowed the fourth run to come across and score, thankfully on the very next pitch Furbush got Alberto Callaspo to pop out to Justin Smoak to end the nightmare inning.
Rodney was then called upon in the ninth inning to close things out and secure the M's 6th win and 1st place in the West. After giving up a lead off double to John Jaso Rodney settled down and Daric Barton to pop out and fooled Sogard with one nasty changeup. A's manager decided to send in another pinch hitter in Mariners killer Coco Crisp, so McClendon decided to make a quick trip to the mound to talk things over with his closer.
What ever Lloyd said to Rodney it worked, as he threw three straight changeup's to Crisp and got him to swing on the third one for the final strike of the game. Rodney shot that arrow towards the heavens and earn Felix his third win of the season and earned his third save of the year.
So the M's are back in first place in West, I know its early but you gotta take in the fact that the M's are over .500 and are in 1st place. Tomorrow the M's send Erasmo Ramirez to the mound who will look to have a better outing against Oakland than last time where he allowed five runs on seven hits, Sonny Gray will go against Ramirez and so tomorrow's game is basically a rematch of last Sunday's game.
Players of the Game: Felix Hernandez 7+ IP 4 H 2 R 2 ER 0 BB 11 K
Mike Zunino 2-4 HR 2 RBI 2 R
Brad Miller 2-5 HR RBI R
Dustin Ackley 3-4 2B 2 R
Felix improved to 3-0 for the first time in his major league career and also improved his record against the A's to 17-7 in 31 starts with a 2.60 ERA. Though the bullpen nearly fell apart in the top of the eighth, thankfully they were able to hold the A's off and Fernando Rodney shut the door and shot his arrow to finish off the A's.
The Mariners offense the other night was only able to get one hit of Angels starter Garrett Richards, tonight was different story as the M's hitters decided to pound the A's pitching staff with 12 hits. Abraham Almonte got things started with the first pitch as he drilled a line drive to left and thanks to his amazing speed he was able to leg out his third double of the year, following that Brad Miller laid down a bunt that turned into a base hit thanks again to speed.
If you remember early this year the Yankees coaching staff said that Robinson Cano never hustled........well things change, Cano legged out his second infield hit of the season and on the play Almonte scored the first run of the game.The Mariners were able to load the bases with one out, but unfortunately Kyle Seager popped out on a high 3-2 pitch and Stefen Romero struck out on an off speed pitch and so A's starter Tommy Milone escaped the first with minimal damage.
Lets talk more about King Felix. Felix began the game off by retiring the first 10 batters he faced and struck out 6 batters in the first four innings. Felix continued his domination while his offense decided to give their King the run support he deserves.
The bottom of the fourth started off on what looked like a lead off home run by Seager but after replay review it turned out that Seager just missed his first home run of the year by a few feet, so after running around the bases and thinking he finally got that big hit he was searching for he ended up striking out on the next pitch, Romero struck out as well on another off speed pitch. So with two outs the Mariners decided to put the 2000 slogan to work again "2 outs so what?".
Dustin Ackley got his second hit of the game and following that Mike Zunino grounded to Josh Donaldson who's throw went wide and into the crowd which allowed Ackley to score Zunino was then able to score on another error by the A's and so the M's pushed their third run across.
The Mariners added two more runs in the bottom of the sixth. Ackley got things started with a half swinging single to left and following his single Zunino drove an inside pitch into the A's bullpen to give the M's a 5-0 lead. After a pitching change by the Athletics Brad Miller showed off his impressive power swing by driving a long one over the center field wall for his third homer of the season and pushing the Mariners lead to 6-0. After the sixth inning Felix went out and struck out the side to push his strikeout total to 11 for the night and while the M's were up to bat Felix decided that he wanted to throw one more inning even with 100 pitches under his belt.
Felix hit the first batter he saw in the eighth and then gave up a single to Eric Sogard. Lloyd McClendon then made the smart decision of coming out to relieve Felix of his duties for the night, and so Felix walked off to a standing ovation from 38,000+ fans giving thanks to the King for one amazing night.
The Mariners bullpen though was not as hot as Felix was, Lucas Luetge was brought in and walked the first batter he saw on four straight pitches so McClendon decided to relieve Luetge and give Danny Farqhuar a shot. That didn't fan out as great as McClendon intended, as Farqhuar walked Jed Lowrie with the bases loaded so that brought the A's first run home, Farqhuar was able to strike out Donaldson but McClendon went to the bullpen for the third time in the inning and brought in Charlie Furbush to try and stop the bleeding.
Furbush gave up an RBI single to Brandon Moss which made it 6-2, following that Yoenis Cespedes legged out a fielder's choice and on the play Sam Fuld scored and made it a 3 run ball game. To make things worse Furbush threw a wild pitch that allowed the fourth run to come across and score, thankfully on the very next pitch Furbush got Alberto Callaspo to pop out to Justin Smoak to end the nightmare inning.
Rodney was then called upon in the ninth inning to close things out and secure the M's 6th win and 1st place in the West. After giving up a lead off double to John Jaso Rodney settled down and Daric Barton to pop out and fooled Sogard with one nasty changeup. A's manager decided to send in another pinch hitter in Mariners killer Coco Crisp, so McClendon decided to make a quick trip to the mound to talk things over with his closer.
What ever Lloyd said to Rodney it worked, as he threw three straight changeup's to Crisp and got him to swing on the third one for the final strike of the game. Rodney shot that arrow towards the heavens and earn Felix his third win of the season and earned his third save of the year.
So the M's are back in first place in West, I know its early but you gotta take in the fact that the M's are over .500 and are in 1st place. Tomorrow the M's send Erasmo Ramirez to the mound who will look to have a better outing against Oakland than last time where he allowed five runs on seven hits, Sonny Gray will go against Ramirez and so tomorrow's game is basically a rematch of last Sunday's game.
Players of the Game: Felix Hernandez 7+ IP 4 H 2 R 2 ER 0 BB 11 K
Mike Zunino 2-4 HR 2 RBI 2 R
Brad Miller 2-5 HR RBI R
Dustin Ackley 3-4 2B 2 R
Tuesday, April 1, 2014
Mariners offense dazzles on Opening Day
Opening Day has finally arrived and with it a brand new season and a brand new Seattle Mariners team. The team didn't seem like they wanted to show off their high powered offense from spring training. It seemed that Jeff Weaver was going to shut down the Mariners and it also looked like Felix Hernandez would lose control of his pitches and emotions, but the M's found a way to pull out their 8th straight Opening Day victory.
The Angels though got off on a bad start to the season as Vladimir Guerrero threw out the first pitch to hitting coach Don Baylor, on the throw Baylor's knee slipped out and after being helped off the field was taken to a local hospital where he was diagnosed with a fractured right femur. Baylor will undergo surgery today. My thoughts and prayers are with Baylor for a successful surgery and a speedy recovery.
Things didn't start off the way the Mariners wanted it to, the Angels $144.5 million dollar fish Mike Trout decided to start off his season by destroying an 86 mph slider over the left field fence to put his up by two runs. The Mariners answer back with a run of their own in the top of the third as Michael Saunders drove in Justin Smoak with a sacrifice fly to right.
The Angels added an extra run in the bottom of the third inning as Felix showed signs of both losing control of his pitches and his frustration. Felix was finally able to get out of the troublesome 3rd inning after throwing 30 pitches.
After the third inning Felix was able to calm down and locate his pitches. He would finish the night by striking out 11 Angel batters, the Mariners were able to add a run in the top of the sixth inning, Kyle Seager just missed hitting a 3-run home run by a matter of feet but was still able to drive in Smoak but unfortunately Logan Morrison was thrown out by at least 6 steps trying to score from first. Felix went back out in the bottom of the sixth inning with 90 pitches already under his belt, after Josh Hamilton lead things off with a single King Felix got David Freese to ground out and struck out both Raul Ibanez and Howie Kendrick to end both the inning and his season debut.
So Felix's night was done and as he left the game down 3-2 the Mariners decided that now was time to begin showing off their young powerful lineup. The Mariners comeback began with one out as Dustin Ackley ripped a single into left field, after that Mike Zunino swung at the first pitch and drove a deep fly ball to left field and just missed hitting a 2-run home run by inches but either way Ackley scored from first to tie the game on Zunino's first major league triple. Mike Scioscia came out and relieved Weaver, following the pitching change Abraham Almonte drove what would basically be the game winning run for the Mariners.
With Felix's night done manager Lloyd McClendon had to go to the bullpen. The Mariners would use 3 different pitchers in the bottom of the seventh inning, Yoervis Medina would get the first batter he face to pop out to Smoak but then gave up a single to Erick Aybar. Charlie Furbush would then get his first batter to fly out but was taken out after being hit by a line drive off the bat of Mike Trout. So for the first time the Bartender was brought into face Albert Pujols, and as we all know of what Tom Wilhelmsen did last year you could understand me being nervous as hell during the entire at bat. Thankfully Wilhelmsen got Pujols to line out to Almonte to kill the Angels threat in the inning.
Wilhelmsen would go out in the bottom of the eighth and what an inning it was for Tommy Boy. The Bartender got Hamilton to fly out, struck out Freese, and got Ibanez to ground out and for a brief moment Wilhelmsen looked like his old self from last year. The Mariners decided that to add some insurance runs for security reasons.
With two out in the top of the ninth after Brad Miller singled and Robinson Cano doubled Justin Smoak smashed a 3-run home run to right to put the M's up 7-3 and made Fernando Rodney sit down as his services was no longer needed. The M's put up three more runs with two outs, after three consecutive walks to Morrison, Seager, and Saunders Ackley decided to use his bearded powers to clear the bases and put his team up by 7 runs with a 3-run triple.
So one helluva of a 9th inning Lord Farqhuar was brought in to finish off the slug-fest. It was easy, Farqhuar went 1-2-3 and secured the Mariners first win of the season and the team's 8th Opening Day win in a row. With this win Felix Hernandez improves his Opening Day record to a perfect 5-0, not bad huh? Also not bad for Mariners getting their first win on ESPN. On one more note and this is not an April Fool's joke the Mariners are in first place.......yeah I know its the first game so sue me. Also the M's finished the game with going 4-9 with runners in scoring position.
Players of the Game: Felix Hernandez 6 IP 4 H 1 BB 11 K
Justin Smoak 2-4 1 2B 3 R 3 RBI
Dustin Ackley 2-4 1 3B 1 R 3 RBI
NOTES: Erasmo Ramirez will take the mound tonight for Game 2 of this 3 game series against C.J. Wilson. Ramirez will look to earn his first win against the Angels as he is 0-2 in 3 starts against Los Angeles with a 2.41 ERA.
The Angels though got off on a bad start to the season as Vladimir Guerrero threw out the first pitch to hitting coach Don Baylor, on the throw Baylor's knee slipped out and after being helped off the field was taken to a local hospital where he was diagnosed with a fractured right femur. Baylor will undergo surgery today. My thoughts and prayers are with Baylor for a successful surgery and a speedy recovery.
Things didn't start off the way the Mariners wanted it to, the Angels $144.5 million dollar fish Mike Trout decided to start off his season by destroying an 86 mph slider over the left field fence to put his up by two runs. The Mariners answer back with a run of their own in the top of the third as Michael Saunders drove in Justin Smoak with a sacrifice fly to right.
The Angels added an extra run in the bottom of the third inning as Felix showed signs of both losing control of his pitches and his frustration. Felix was finally able to get out of the troublesome 3rd inning after throwing 30 pitches.
After the third inning Felix was able to calm down and locate his pitches. He would finish the night by striking out 11 Angel batters, the Mariners were able to add a run in the top of the sixth inning, Kyle Seager just missed hitting a 3-run home run by a matter of feet but was still able to drive in Smoak but unfortunately Logan Morrison was thrown out by at least 6 steps trying to score from first. Felix went back out in the bottom of the sixth inning with 90 pitches already under his belt, after Josh Hamilton lead things off with a single King Felix got David Freese to ground out and struck out both Raul Ibanez and Howie Kendrick to end both the inning and his season debut.
So Felix's night was done and as he left the game down 3-2 the Mariners decided that now was time to begin showing off their young powerful lineup. The Mariners comeback began with one out as Dustin Ackley ripped a single into left field, after that Mike Zunino swung at the first pitch and drove a deep fly ball to left field and just missed hitting a 2-run home run by inches but either way Ackley scored from first to tie the game on Zunino's first major league triple. Mike Scioscia came out and relieved Weaver, following the pitching change Abraham Almonte drove what would basically be the game winning run for the Mariners.
With Felix's night done manager Lloyd McClendon had to go to the bullpen. The Mariners would use 3 different pitchers in the bottom of the seventh inning, Yoervis Medina would get the first batter he face to pop out to Smoak but then gave up a single to Erick Aybar. Charlie Furbush would then get his first batter to fly out but was taken out after being hit by a line drive off the bat of Mike Trout. So for the first time the Bartender was brought into face Albert Pujols, and as we all know of what Tom Wilhelmsen did last year you could understand me being nervous as hell during the entire at bat. Thankfully Wilhelmsen got Pujols to line out to Almonte to kill the Angels threat in the inning.
Wilhelmsen would go out in the bottom of the eighth and what an inning it was for Tommy Boy. The Bartender got Hamilton to fly out, struck out Freese, and got Ibanez to ground out and for a brief moment Wilhelmsen looked like his old self from last year. The Mariners decided that to add some insurance runs for security reasons.
With two out in the top of the ninth after Brad Miller singled and Robinson Cano doubled Justin Smoak smashed a 3-run home run to right to put the M's up 7-3 and made Fernando Rodney sit down as his services was no longer needed. The M's put up three more runs with two outs, after three consecutive walks to Morrison, Seager, and Saunders Ackley decided to use his bearded powers to clear the bases and put his team up by 7 runs with a 3-run triple.
So one helluva of a 9th inning Lord Farqhuar was brought in to finish off the slug-fest. It was easy, Farqhuar went 1-2-3 and secured the Mariners first win of the season and the team's 8th Opening Day win in a row. With this win Felix Hernandez improves his Opening Day record to a perfect 5-0, not bad huh? Also not bad for Mariners getting their first win on ESPN. On one more note and this is not an April Fool's joke the Mariners are in first place.......yeah I know its the first game so sue me. Also the M's finished the game with going 4-9 with runners in scoring position.
Players of the Game: Felix Hernandez 6 IP 4 H 1 BB 11 K
Justin Smoak 2-4 1 2B 3 R 3 RBI
Dustin Ackley 2-4 1 3B 1 R 3 RBI
NOTES: Erasmo Ramirez will take the mound tonight for Game 2 of this 3 game series against C.J. Wilson. Ramirez will look to earn his first win against the Angels as he is 0-2 in 3 starts against Los Angeles with a 2.41 ERA.
Friday, February 14, 2014
New 2014 Seattle Mariners Projections
The Seattle Mariners off season has been looking like a playoff maybe even a World Series one. The M's just got done signing closer Fernando Rodney to a 2 year, $14 million dollar deal. So, again the Mariners are making noise in the offseason and are trying to see if they can pull off a playoff season and maybe perhaps a World Series title. The Mariners football counterpart the Seahawks just got finished with winning their first Super Bowl title in franchise history. So the Mariners have very high expectation's this year, especially when it comes to the playoffs cause lets face it the Mariners have been going-on 13 year playoff-less drought and with the signing's they have had they will look to end that drought this year.
Here is my newest projection on the Mariners with their newest additions.
Starting players
C Mike Zunino
1B Justin Smoak
2B Robinson Cano
SS Brad Miller/Nick Franklin
3B Kyle Seager
CF Dustin Ackley
RF Abraham Almonte
LF Michael Saunders or Nick Franklin
DH Corey Hart or Logan Morrison
Bench players
Logan Morrison
Willie Bloomquist
Nick Franklin or Carlos Triunfel
John Buck
Starting Rotation
Felix Hernandez
Hisashi Iwakuma
Taijuan Walker
James Paxton
Erasmo Ramirez or Scott Baker (if he makes the Spring Training cut) or a free agent
Bullpen
Blake Beaven
Stephen Pryor
Lucas Luetge
Yoervis Medina
Charlie Furbush
SU Danny Farqhuar
CL Fernando Rodney
The first thing that is up for discussion is the Brad Miller/Nick Franklin battle that will be going on at the beginning of Spring Training. To me its a no brainier, Miller will win this position battle no doubt. I mean last year Miller played great at shortstop so why replace a good thing with a struggling hitter? It would be just like having another version of Brendan Ryan......and seriously who wants that? For some reason after the All Star Break pitcher's figured him out. Franklin batted a horrible .194, struck out 77 times, and was less patient at the plate and swung at pitches that even Vladimir Guererro wouldn't have swung at.
Depending on how both Franklin and Carlos Triunfel does during Spring Training one of them will get a spot on the 25 man roster. Both have not produced hitting wise in the major's but they need to fill the 25 man roster with someone right? Now if Franklin fails at getting the spot at shortstop there is always a possibility that the M's will give him a shot in the outfield just like Ackley last year.
Next thing I should discuss is the 5th spot in the starting rotation. If the Mariners don't sign Ervin Santana then the final spot will go to either Ramirez or the non-roster invite Scott Baker. Ramirez is the first choice of course, but again if the front office goes out and spends a little more money on a possible big pitcher free agent then Ramirez could be seen doing early inning appearances in the bullpen. Also I came close to putting tom Wilhelmsen on the roster but decided better, why you ask, do I even need a reason? Or should I remind M's fans of the game in Boston on August 1st of last year?
I thought not. Wilhelmsen last year began the season with a great start, but then all of a sudden he had control problems and had major meltdowns and blew saves left and right. Danny Farqhuar on the other hand pitch amazing once he was given the closer position he was light's out, so with Rodney being signed Farqhuar will become the setup man.
Now before I end this post I do want to get on the bench players. First Willie Bloomquist, I'm happy that he has been brought back to his Northwest roots to play with the Mariners as a utility player and a speedy late inning pinch runner. Then we have John Buck, probably my favorite signing besides Cano this off season. Buck provides the necessary veteran role that 2nd year catcher Mike Zunino needs to learn about his position and become a better catcher and hitter. Basically the M's signed a bench player who still has a great arm as a catcher and can hit for power.
This off season has seen a number of great signings and the season is less then a month away from beginning. My only hope for the Mariners is that the team can improve with their hitting with runners in scoring position to help out Cano and score to win more ball games. If they do that, I see an 87-89 win season, with a Wild Card title and hopefully a World Series berth.
Let the season BEGIN!!!
Here is my newest projection on the Mariners with their newest additions.
Starting players
C Mike Zunino
1B Justin Smoak
2B Robinson Cano
SS Brad Miller/Nick Franklin
3B Kyle Seager
CF Dustin Ackley
RF Abraham Almonte
LF Michael Saunders or Nick Franklin
DH Corey Hart or Logan Morrison
Bench players
Logan Morrison
Willie Bloomquist
Nick Franklin or Carlos Triunfel
John Buck
Starting Rotation
Felix Hernandez
Hisashi Iwakuma
Taijuan Walker
James Paxton
Erasmo Ramirez or Scott Baker (if he makes the Spring Training cut) or a free agent
Bullpen
Blake Beaven
Stephen Pryor
Lucas Luetge
Yoervis Medina
Charlie Furbush
SU Danny Farqhuar
CL Fernando Rodney
The first thing that is up for discussion is the Brad Miller/Nick Franklin battle that will be going on at the beginning of Spring Training. To me its a no brainier, Miller will win this position battle no doubt. I mean last year Miller played great at shortstop so why replace a good thing with a struggling hitter? It would be just like having another version of Brendan Ryan......and seriously who wants that? For some reason after the All Star Break pitcher's figured him out. Franklin batted a horrible .194, struck out 77 times, and was less patient at the plate and swung at pitches that even Vladimir Guererro wouldn't have swung at.
Depending on how both Franklin and Carlos Triunfel does during Spring Training one of them will get a spot on the 25 man roster. Both have not produced hitting wise in the major's but they need to fill the 25 man roster with someone right? Now if Franklin fails at getting the spot at shortstop there is always a possibility that the M's will give him a shot in the outfield just like Ackley last year.
Next thing I should discuss is the 5th spot in the starting rotation. If the Mariners don't sign Ervin Santana then the final spot will go to either Ramirez or the non-roster invite Scott Baker. Ramirez is the first choice of course, but again if the front office goes out and spends a little more money on a possible big pitcher free agent then Ramirez could be seen doing early inning appearances in the bullpen. Also I came close to putting tom Wilhelmsen on the roster but decided better, why you ask, do I even need a reason? Or should I remind M's fans of the game in Boston on August 1st of last year?
I thought not. Wilhelmsen last year began the season with a great start, but then all of a sudden he had control problems and had major meltdowns and blew saves left and right. Danny Farqhuar on the other hand pitch amazing once he was given the closer position he was light's out, so with Rodney being signed Farqhuar will become the setup man.
Now before I end this post I do want to get on the bench players. First Willie Bloomquist, I'm happy that he has been brought back to his Northwest roots to play with the Mariners as a utility player and a speedy late inning pinch runner. Then we have John Buck, probably my favorite signing besides Cano this off season. Buck provides the necessary veteran role that 2nd year catcher Mike Zunino needs to learn about his position and become a better catcher and hitter. Basically the M's signed a bench player who still has a great arm as a catcher and can hit for power.
This off season has seen a number of great signings and the season is less then a month away from beginning. My only hope for the Mariners is that the team can improve with their hitting with runners in scoring position to help out Cano and score to win more ball games. If they do that, I see an 87-89 win season, with a Wild Card title and hopefully a World Series berth.
Let the season BEGIN!!!
Tuesday, December 17, 2013
New 2014 Seattle Mariners Projections
The Seattle Mariners have made headlines this off season, by signing Robinson Cano to a 10 year $240 million dollar contract. They have also added Corey Hart and Logan Morrison (@CupOfLoMo) via trade. So the question is "Just how good will the Mariners become after these signings?". With the Angels trading away Mark Trumbo to the Arizona Diamondbacks the Angels are now down to three big names; Mike Trout, Josh Hamilton, and Albert Pujols. But out of those three players one produced MVP type numbers and the Angels finished in 3rd place last with a 78-84 record (their first losing season since 2003).
Now, the Oakland Athletics and Texas Rangers are the only competition the Mariners really have in the American League West. The Houston Astros had some success against the Mariners last year but finished with the worst record in baseball (51-111). So, really what chances do the Mariners have this year of being a playoff bound team? The answer is......I think they have a fair shot at becoming a Wild Card team if not the winners of the AL West.
Last year the Mariners finished second in baseball in home runs with 188! Cant remember the last time the Mariners were ever in the top 5 in home runs. Now the Mariners have had a couple players that will not be returning this year including Kendrys Morales, Carter Capps (traded to Miami for Morrison), Raul Ibanez, and Franklin Gutierrez.
With the current players that are on the active roster this is my projected starting lineup and starting rotation.
SS Brad Miller
CF Dustin Ackley/Nick Franklin
2B Robinson Cano
DH Corey Hart
3B Kyle Seager
1B Justin Smoak
C Mike Zunino
RF Michael Saunders
LF Abraham Almonte
Bench
Logan Morrison
Willie Bloomquist
Carlos Triunfel
Jesus Sucre
Starting Rotation
Felix Hernandez
Hisashi Iwakuma
Taijuan Walker
James Paxton
Erasmo Ramirez
Bullpen
Charlie Furbush
Blake Beaven
Lucas Luetge
Yoervis Medina
Tom Wilhelmsen (hate to say it)
Stephen Pryor
Danny Farquhar
Now, Nick Franklin im not sure if he or Dustin Ackley will be on the Opening Day roster spring training is going to see both Franklin and Ackley battle for the final roster spot. Franklin might even be traded before then, but I do believe that the M's will try the Ackley experiment on him and give him a shot out in the outfield. Seeing Wilhelmsen on the roster is not something Mariners fans want to see but who else is there?
The Mariners did make a great pickup in Willie Bloomquist, with his utility ability and veteran experience in the clubhouse the front office signed him to a 2 year $5.8 million dollar contract and again I believe the front office made a smart choice in signing Willie and not resigning Raul Ibanez. Ibanez had a great season last year but during the second half of the season went down hill.
The Mariners pitching staff though is hoping for a full and healthy season from Stephen Pryor, with his 100mph fastball he and Danny Farquhar will be battling who will be the full time closer. As you remember Farquhar had a great rookie season after The Bartender was fired from his closing duties. Farquhar saved 16 games out of the 20 attempts while appearing in 46 games. So its going to be exciting to see which one of these young men get the closing job, whoever does is going to have a great season this year.
Now let me go ahead and give my thought on the lineup I gave. First off its a no brainier that Robinson Cano is going to be batting 3rd. I mean Miller is going give a possible first run for the M's in the lead off spot, so again Cano is the logical choice as the #3 hitter. With Brad Miller and Dustin Ackley (or Nick Franklin) will give Cano the speed to drive in one or two runs even three if he hits a home run so again Cano in the 3rd spot is a no doubter.
Now Seager batting the 5-hole is the best thing Mariners manager Llyod McClenndon can do. Seager batted .356 last year while hitting in the 5-hole and had a ratio of 1 out of every 9 plate appearance where he struck out! Career wise Seager is a better hitter when he bats #5; he has a career batting average of .324 and has only struck out 42 times in 319 plate appearances.
Basically my lineup speaks for itself. Smoak and Zunino after Seager fits perfectly as they can get hit for extra bases and drive in runs and following those two are Michael Saunders and Abraham Almonte who when on base pose a threat to steal bases and get into scoring position. Seriously can this lineup I gave be anymore dangerous and can this starting rotation be anymore threatening? The answer is yes.
My prediction for this team is going to impressive at the least. 2014 will see the Seattle Mariners post 90+ wins for the first time since 2003 and will be a great threat for the both the Wild Card and the American League West title. Cano will lead the way for hitters and Felix will do his part in leading the way pitching wise. No one has yet to say just how threatening this Mariners team can and will be this upcoming season and that's great because what better way to show the baseball world how deadly this team is then by proving to the experts and the doubters.
This season will also see 3 maybe even 5 members of the team going to the All Star game including Cano being the first Mariner since Brett Boone in 03 to compete in the Homerun Derby.
Be prepared Mariners fans for a great season.
Now, the Oakland Athletics and Texas Rangers are the only competition the Mariners really have in the American League West. The Houston Astros had some success against the Mariners last year but finished with the worst record in baseball (51-111). So, really what chances do the Mariners have this year of being a playoff bound team? The answer is......I think they have a fair shot at becoming a Wild Card team if not the winners of the AL West.
Last year the Mariners finished second in baseball in home runs with 188! Cant remember the last time the Mariners were ever in the top 5 in home runs. Now the Mariners have had a couple players that will not be returning this year including Kendrys Morales, Carter Capps (traded to Miami for Morrison), Raul Ibanez, and Franklin Gutierrez.
With the current players that are on the active roster this is my projected starting lineup and starting rotation.
SS Brad Miller
CF Dustin Ackley/Nick Franklin
2B Robinson Cano
DH Corey Hart
3B Kyle Seager
1B Justin Smoak
C Mike Zunino
RF Michael Saunders
LF Abraham Almonte
Bench
Logan Morrison
Willie Bloomquist
Carlos Triunfel
Jesus Sucre
Starting Rotation
Felix Hernandez
Hisashi Iwakuma
Taijuan Walker
James Paxton
Erasmo Ramirez
Bullpen
Charlie Furbush
Blake Beaven
Lucas Luetge
Yoervis Medina
Tom Wilhelmsen (hate to say it)
Stephen Pryor
Danny Farquhar
Now, Nick Franklin im not sure if he or Dustin Ackley will be on the Opening Day roster spring training is going to see both Franklin and Ackley battle for the final roster spot. Franklin might even be traded before then, but I do believe that the M's will try the Ackley experiment on him and give him a shot out in the outfield. Seeing Wilhelmsen on the roster is not something Mariners fans want to see but who else is there?
The Mariners did make a great pickup in Willie Bloomquist, with his utility ability and veteran experience in the clubhouse the front office signed him to a 2 year $5.8 million dollar contract and again I believe the front office made a smart choice in signing Willie and not resigning Raul Ibanez. Ibanez had a great season last year but during the second half of the season went down hill.
The Mariners pitching staff though is hoping for a full and healthy season from Stephen Pryor, with his 100mph fastball he and Danny Farquhar will be battling who will be the full time closer. As you remember Farquhar had a great rookie season after The Bartender was fired from his closing duties. Farquhar saved 16 games out of the 20 attempts while appearing in 46 games. So its going to be exciting to see which one of these young men get the closing job, whoever does is going to have a great season this year.
Now let me go ahead and give my thought on the lineup I gave. First off its a no brainier that Robinson Cano is going to be batting 3rd. I mean Miller is going give a possible first run for the M's in the lead off spot, so again Cano is the logical choice as the #3 hitter. With Brad Miller and Dustin Ackley (or Nick Franklin) will give Cano the speed to drive in one or two runs even three if he hits a home run so again Cano in the 3rd spot is a no doubter.
Now Seager batting the 5-hole is the best thing Mariners manager Llyod McClenndon can do. Seager batted .356 last year while hitting in the 5-hole and had a ratio of 1 out of every 9 plate appearance where he struck out! Career wise Seager is a better hitter when he bats #5; he has a career batting average of .324 and has only struck out 42 times in 319 plate appearances.
Basically my lineup speaks for itself. Smoak and Zunino after Seager fits perfectly as they can get hit for extra bases and drive in runs and following those two are Michael Saunders and Abraham Almonte who when on base pose a threat to steal bases and get into scoring position. Seriously can this lineup I gave be anymore dangerous and can this starting rotation be anymore threatening? The answer is yes.
My prediction for this team is going to impressive at the least. 2014 will see the Seattle Mariners post 90+ wins for the first time since 2003 and will be a great threat for the both the Wild Card and the American League West title. Cano will lead the way for hitters and Felix will do his part in leading the way pitching wise. No one has yet to say just how threatening this Mariners team can and will be this upcoming season and that's great because what better way to show the baseball world how deadly this team is then by proving to the experts and the doubters.
This season will also see 3 maybe even 5 members of the team going to the All Star game including Cano being the first Mariner since Brett Boone in 03 to compete in the Homerun Derby.
Be prepared Mariners fans for a great season.
Sunday, July 21, 2013
Sweeping beginning to the second half
The day after the Mariners score 4 runs with only 1 hit the M's sent their ace Felix Hernandez out to go for his 11th win of the year and try. The Mariners were also looking for both their sixth win in a row and their second sweep in a row. The Mariners though went 1-2-3 in the first inning against Jordan Lyles. Felix matched Lyles by going 1-2-3 in the bottom of the first inning while striking out one batter and only throwing 10 pitches. Kendrys Morales made sure when he lead off in the top of the second inning that his team didn't have to eight innings without a hit, as he lined the first pitch he saw into center field. Kyle Seager was able to get on as he hit a ground ball that shortstop Jake Elmore couldn't handle and so everybody was safe, after Justin Smoak struck out Michael Saunders drew a walk. Dustin Ackley put the Mariners on the board first with an RBI infield single, Elmore was able to come up with the ground ball but thanks to Saunders' awesome speed he slid safely into second base.
After a visit to the mound Lyles drilled Henry Blanco with one, so the Mariners took a 2-0 lead and Brad Miller made it 3-0 with his first hit of the ball game. The bases were still loaded with only one out "Officer" Nick Franklin got out the rye bread and mustard out and hit his first major league grand slam of his career and put the Mariners up 7-0. After thirty minutes the Mariners had 7 runs on only 4 hits......jeez talk about deja vu huh? Felix went back out and only needed to throw 15 pitches to go back into the dugout. At that point in the bottom of the second inning I was getting grief from a couple of my followers about jinxing Felix, I tweeted before the game that Felix was going to throw a no hitter against the Astros and he gave up a one out single to Carlos Corporan and so once that happened the tweets started flying in about me jinxing the man. Oh sure like you haven't tweeted the same thing and it didn't happen. The Mariners though were quiet through the next two innings.
In the top of the fifth inning Raul Ibanez doubled to start things off for the M's, Morales followed up with an RBI single into center that put the M's up 8-0. Seager then came up and on the fourth pitch fouled one off but he accidentally let go of the bat and hit a small kid, Seager looked into stands looking to see if the kid was ok and after they told Seager the kid was ok Lyles threw one in and hit Seager on the shoulder, Texas then showed just how classy they are by cheering that Lyles had hit Seager. Trust me that wouldn't be the last time Texas showed their classiness but I'll get to that later, Smoak lined a single to once again load up the bases for the Mariners. Astros manager Bo Porter had seen enough and relieved Lyles and brought in Lucas Harrell to try and get out of the inning. Saunders grounded into a fielder's choice and on the play Morales scored from third and the M's lead grew to 9-0, Ackley then drove in the tenth run of the game for the M's with a sacrifice fly to left.
Felix threw two more shutout innings. In the bottom of the fifth inning Felix got into his first real jam of the game. Justin Maxwell lead off the inning by getting on first after Miller bobbled one and couldn't get the speedy Maxwell, but if anyone looked at the replay like I did Maxwell was clearly out and so the umps made their first mistake in the game. Felix then had an eight pitch battle with Brandon Barnes with Felix winning the fight by striking out Barnes. Elmore then legged out an infield single as Miller couldn't make the long throw from the outfield, Felix then got one of his get out of a jam double plays. Felix then went out in the bottom of the six inning which would be his final inning of work. Brett Wallace lead off the inning by singling into left, Felix then was able to get Jason Castro to fly out and then walked Chris Carter but Felix came back and struck out both Corporan and Marc Krauss to end the inning for the Astros and end his start off in fashion. The Mariners got their 11th run of the ball game in the top of the the 7th inning, after Saunders walked and Ackley singled Brad Miller singled home Saunders as Elmore tried to make the diving play but the ball bounced off his glove and went into center.
As the game went into the bottom of the seventh inning God Bless America was sung and as the camera's went across the crowd and Texas showed just how arrogant they can be as some fans were on their phones either talking or texting and the worst part was that most of the fans (including one Mariners fans) didn't remove their hats and they showed just how society has gone down. Hector Noesi was brought into the bottom of the seventh inning and after getting the first two batters out gave up a two out double to Elmore. Following Elmore's double Altuve broke up the shutout with an RBI single into left field driving in Elmore. The Mariners added their final run of the game in the top of the top of the eighth as Saunders extended his hitting streak to 10 games with an RBI double and so the M's lead was put to 12-1 with that double. Lucas Luetge went out in the bottom of the eighth inning and had an easy 1-2-3 inning but in the bottom of the ninth Bobby LaFromboise was brought in and Astros teed three straight hits off him including an RBI single by Barnes. LaFromboise then walked Elmore and finally recorded the first out of the inning by striking out Altuve.
After that strikeout Eric Wedge brought in Danny Farquhar to try and end the game, but unfortunately Matt Dominguez drove in another run with a sacrifice fly and then Blanco made a mistake as Castro struck out but thanks to a wild pitch and a bad throw by Blanco Barnes and Elmore scored. Farquhar finally got Corporan to pop out to end the game and secure the Mariners their 46th win of the year. The Mariners now travel back home to Seattle to play the Cleveland Indians and you know they are looking for some payback from the embarrassing four game sweep of the M's back in May. If they Mariners want to take this three game series from Cleveland their bullpen needs to get better and stop giving up runs late in the ballgame. Today's win now puts the Mariners only 11 back in the AL West and only 9 games back of second place in the American League Wild Card. So far the Mariners are .600 baseball in the last 10 games, lets hope this team can keep things going and maybe even make another Refuse To Lose comeback.
After a visit to the mound Lyles drilled Henry Blanco with one, so the Mariners took a 2-0 lead and Brad Miller made it 3-0 with his first hit of the ball game. The bases were still loaded with only one out "Officer" Nick Franklin got out the rye bread and mustard out and hit his first major league grand slam of his career and put the Mariners up 7-0. After thirty minutes the Mariners had 7 runs on only 4 hits......jeez talk about deja vu huh? Felix went back out and only needed to throw 15 pitches to go back into the dugout. At that point in the bottom of the second inning I was getting grief from a couple of my followers about jinxing Felix, I tweeted before the game that Felix was going to throw a no hitter against the Astros and he gave up a one out single to Carlos Corporan and so once that happened the tweets started flying in about me jinxing the man. Oh sure like you haven't tweeted the same thing and it didn't happen. The Mariners though were quiet through the next two innings.
In the top of the fifth inning Raul Ibanez doubled to start things off for the M's, Morales followed up with an RBI single into center that put the M's up 8-0. Seager then came up and on the fourth pitch fouled one off but he accidentally let go of the bat and hit a small kid, Seager looked into stands looking to see if the kid was ok and after they told Seager the kid was ok Lyles threw one in and hit Seager on the shoulder, Texas then showed just how classy they are by cheering that Lyles had hit Seager. Trust me that wouldn't be the last time Texas showed their classiness but I'll get to that later, Smoak lined a single to once again load up the bases for the Mariners. Astros manager Bo Porter had seen enough and relieved Lyles and brought in Lucas Harrell to try and get out of the inning. Saunders grounded into a fielder's choice and on the play Morales scored from third and the M's lead grew to 9-0, Ackley then drove in the tenth run of the game for the M's with a sacrifice fly to left.
Felix threw two more shutout innings. In the bottom of the fifth inning Felix got into his first real jam of the game. Justin Maxwell lead off the inning by getting on first after Miller bobbled one and couldn't get the speedy Maxwell, but if anyone looked at the replay like I did Maxwell was clearly out and so the umps made their first mistake in the game. Felix then had an eight pitch battle with Brandon Barnes with Felix winning the fight by striking out Barnes. Elmore then legged out an infield single as Miller couldn't make the long throw from the outfield, Felix then got one of his get out of a jam double plays. Felix then went out in the bottom of the six inning which would be his final inning of work. Brett Wallace lead off the inning by singling into left, Felix then was able to get Jason Castro to fly out and then walked Chris Carter but Felix came back and struck out both Corporan and Marc Krauss to end the inning for the Astros and end his start off in fashion. The Mariners got their 11th run of the ball game in the top of the the 7th inning, after Saunders walked and Ackley singled Brad Miller singled home Saunders as Elmore tried to make the diving play but the ball bounced off his glove and went into center.
As the game went into the bottom of the seventh inning God Bless America was sung and as the camera's went across the crowd and Texas showed just how arrogant they can be as some fans were on their phones either talking or texting and the worst part was that most of the fans (including one Mariners fans) didn't remove their hats and they showed just how society has gone down. Hector Noesi was brought into the bottom of the seventh inning and after getting the first two batters out gave up a two out double to Elmore. Following Elmore's double Altuve broke up the shutout with an RBI single into left field driving in Elmore. The Mariners added their final run of the game in the top of the top of the eighth as Saunders extended his hitting streak to 10 games with an RBI double and so the M's lead was put to 12-1 with that double. Lucas Luetge went out in the bottom of the eighth inning and had an easy 1-2-3 inning but in the bottom of the ninth Bobby LaFromboise was brought in and Astros teed three straight hits off him including an RBI single by Barnes. LaFromboise then walked Elmore and finally recorded the first out of the inning by striking out Altuve.
After that strikeout Eric Wedge brought in Danny Farquhar to try and end the game, but unfortunately Matt Dominguez drove in another run with a sacrifice fly and then Blanco made a mistake as Castro struck out but thanks to a wild pitch and a bad throw by Blanco Barnes and Elmore scored. Farquhar finally got Corporan to pop out to end the game and secure the Mariners their 46th win of the year. The Mariners now travel back home to Seattle to play the Cleveland Indians and you know they are looking for some payback from the embarrassing four game sweep of the M's back in May. If they Mariners want to take this three game series from Cleveland their bullpen needs to get better and stop giving up runs late in the ballgame. Today's win now puts the Mariners only 11 back in the AL West and only 9 games back of second place in the American League Wild Card. So far the Mariners are .600 baseball in the last 10 games, lets hope this team can keep things going and maybe even make another Refuse To Lose comeback.
Sunday, July 14, 2013
Mariners finish the first half with a sweep
Well, I forgot to post a recap blog on the Mariners 6-0 win last night so I'll be writing a two day recap on last night's win and today's game. Last night the Mariners sent out King Felix Hernandez who would be pitching to try and get his tenth win of the year. Felix pitched a brilliant game going eight shutout innings, things started off well for him as he went 1-2-3 in the top of the first. The Angels sent out their ace Jered Weaver who was looking for his third win in a row, his night started off the same as Felix's except Raul Ibanez hit a ground rule double but that was all the Mariners would get in the bottom of the first inning. Ibanez extended his hitting streak with that double to three games.
Felix began the top of the second inning by striking out Josh Hamilton but Howie Kendrick got the Angles first his with a single; Felix then got Mark Trumbo to fly out to Dustin Ackley in center, Alberto Callaspo then singled to left to put runners at second and first with only one out, but Felix got one of his classic get-out-of-jam double play as he got Hank Conger to ground into a 1-6-3 double play. Weaver got out of the bottom of the second inning with a double play of his own, Justin Smoak was hit by a pitch and then Michael Saunders extended his hitting streak to six games with a one out single, Weaver got Zunino to ground into that double play I told you about to end the Mariners half of the second inning. Felix gave up a two out triple to Mike Trout in the third inning but got Albert Pujols to strikeout. The Mariners got to Weaver in the bottom of the fourth inning, with one out both Kendrys Morales and Kyle Seager got on with back-to-back singles; Seager extended his hitting streak to 13 games with that single, Smoak then battled Weaver in a 10 pitch at bat that ended with Smoak singling home Morales to give the Mariners the 1-0 lead.
The Mariners in the bottom of the sixth inning created some déjà vu as Morales and Seager hit back-to-back singles to bring up Smoak, but this time Smoak only looked at one pitch and drove it over the center field wall to give the Mariners the 4-0 lead and extending the team streak to 21 games with a home-run. In the bottom of the seventh inning the Mariners started things off with Zunino walking and Ackley singled and with one out Scott Downs threw a wild pitch that allowed Zunino to score and the Mariners went ahead 5-0. After Nick Franklin walked, Ibanez added an extra run for the M's as he singled home Ackley and so the Mariners gave Felix a 6-0 lead. After the eighth inning Yoervis Medina was brought in for Felix to shut the door on the Angels, Medina got a 1-2-3 inning and struck out two batters. So the Mariners won both the series and their 42nd game of the year.
So, with last night done today the Mariners sent out their second All Star pitcher Hisashi Iwakuma to try and get his first win in six starts and help the Mariners get their first sweep of the year. Iwakuma got an easy 1-2-3 first inning to start off his day, in the top of the second inning Iwakuma had another easy inning as he only gave up a one out double to Kendrick but didn't allow a run. The Mariners started off their half of the second inning with Justin Smoak getting a one out opposite field single. Michael Saunders then extended his hitting streak to seven games by hitting his sixth home-run of the year. Saunders not only gave the M's the 2-0 lead but extended the team's streak of hitting a home-run in consecutive games to 22. In the bottom of the fourth Seager extended his hitting streak to 14 games with a lead off single. After Smoak walked Saunders flied out to Trout in center, Seager then tagged up from second to third on the play and then Zunino drove in Seager with a sacrifice fly, so the Mariners took the 3-0 lead.
Mark Trumbo lead off the top of the fifth inning by hitting his 21st home-run of the year and got the Angels on the board. The Mariners added another run in their half of the fifth inning; Brad Miller lead off the inning with a single and after Franklin drew his second walk of the day Ibanez drove in Miller with a double for his 56th RBI of the year. Michael Kohn was brought into the game to try and get out of the jam Joe Blanton created, he started things off by striking out Morales, he intentionally walked Seager and then struck out both Smoak and Saunders to end the threat by the Mariners. Trailing 4-1 in the top of the sixth Trout started things off for the Angels with a lead off single, Iwakuma got the next two batters out but after that Kendrick doubled to put runners at second and third, he intentionally walked Trumbo to bring up Callaspo who singled to right field that brought scored Trout and Kendrick. Iwakuma got out of the jam by striking out Chris Iannetta to end the inning.
Iwakuma finished off his day by having a 1-2-3 top of the seventh inning, after that Charlie Furbush was brought in for the 42nd appearance of the season and after allowing a lead off double to Albert Pujols he got Josh Hamilton to pop out, Kendrick to line out, and then got a huge strikeout of Trumbo to end the inning. Tom Whilhelmsen was brought into the ninth to try and save his 19th game of the year and secure the Mariners first sweep of the year. Wilhelmsen went 1-2-3 and the Mariners got their first sweep of the year and their first sweep of the Angels since 2006. The Mariners finished off the first half of the season nine games under .500, 13 games back of first place in the AL West, and 11 games back for second place in the Wild Card. The Mariners will begin the second half of the season in Houston against the Astros.
Felix began the top of the second inning by striking out Josh Hamilton but Howie Kendrick got the Angles first his with a single; Felix then got Mark Trumbo to fly out to Dustin Ackley in center, Alberto Callaspo then singled to left to put runners at second and first with only one out, but Felix got one of his classic get-out-of-jam double play as he got Hank Conger to ground into a 1-6-3 double play. Weaver got out of the bottom of the second inning with a double play of his own, Justin Smoak was hit by a pitch and then Michael Saunders extended his hitting streak to six games with a one out single, Weaver got Zunino to ground into that double play I told you about to end the Mariners half of the second inning. Felix gave up a two out triple to Mike Trout in the third inning but got Albert Pujols to strikeout. The Mariners got to Weaver in the bottom of the fourth inning, with one out both Kendrys Morales and Kyle Seager got on with back-to-back singles; Seager extended his hitting streak to 13 games with that single, Smoak then battled Weaver in a 10 pitch at bat that ended with Smoak singling home Morales to give the Mariners the 1-0 lead.
The Mariners in the bottom of the sixth inning created some déjà vu as Morales and Seager hit back-to-back singles to bring up Smoak, but this time Smoak only looked at one pitch and drove it over the center field wall to give the Mariners the 4-0 lead and extending the team streak to 21 games with a home-run. In the bottom of the seventh inning the Mariners started things off with Zunino walking and Ackley singled and with one out Scott Downs threw a wild pitch that allowed Zunino to score and the Mariners went ahead 5-0. After Nick Franklin walked, Ibanez added an extra run for the M's as he singled home Ackley and so the Mariners gave Felix a 6-0 lead. After the eighth inning Yoervis Medina was brought in for Felix to shut the door on the Angels, Medina got a 1-2-3 inning and struck out two batters. So the Mariners won both the series and their 42nd game of the year.
So, with last night done today the Mariners sent out their second All Star pitcher Hisashi Iwakuma to try and get his first win in six starts and help the Mariners get their first sweep of the year. Iwakuma got an easy 1-2-3 first inning to start off his day, in the top of the second inning Iwakuma had another easy inning as he only gave up a one out double to Kendrick but didn't allow a run. The Mariners started off their half of the second inning with Justin Smoak getting a one out opposite field single. Michael Saunders then extended his hitting streak to seven games by hitting his sixth home-run of the year. Saunders not only gave the M's the 2-0 lead but extended the team's streak of hitting a home-run in consecutive games to 22. In the bottom of the fourth Seager extended his hitting streak to 14 games with a lead off single. After Smoak walked Saunders flied out to Trout in center, Seager then tagged up from second to third on the play and then Zunino drove in Seager with a sacrifice fly, so the Mariners took the 3-0 lead.
Mark Trumbo lead off the top of the fifth inning by hitting his 21st home-run of the year and got the Angels on the board. The Mariners added another run in their half of the fifth inning; Brad Miller lead off the inning with a single and after Franklin drew his second walk of the day Ibanez drove in Miller with a double for his 56th RBI of the year. Michael Kohn was brought into the game to try and get out of the jam Joe Blanton created, he started things off by striking out Morales, he intentionally walked Seager and then struck out both Smoak and Saunders to end the threat by the Mariners. Trailing 4-1 in the top of the sixth Trout started things off for the Angels with a lead off single, Iwakuma got the next two batters out but after that Kendrick doubled to put runners at second and third, he intentionally walked Trumbo to bring up Callaspo who singled to right field that brought scored Trout and Kendrick. Iwakuma got out of the jam by striking out Chris Iannetta to end the inning.
Iwakuma finished off his day by having a 1-2-3 top of the seventh inning, after that Charlie Furbush was brought in for the 42nd appearance of the season and after allowing a lead off double to Albert Pujols he got Josh Hamilton to pop out, Kendrick to line out, and then got a huge strikeout of Trumbo to end the inning. Tom Whilhelmsen was brought into the ninth to try and save his 19th game of the year and secure the Mariners first sweep of the year. Wilhelmsen went 1-2-3 and the Mariners got their first sweep of the year and their first sweep of the Angels since 2006. The Mariners finished off the first half of the season nine games under .500, 13 games back of first place in the AL West, and 11 games back for second place in the Wild Card. The Mariners will begin the second half of the season in Houston against the Astros.
Wednesday, July 10, 2013
Mariners in playoff contention?
July has seen the Seattle Mariners surge onto the spotlight......well sorta. The Mariners have started July out with a 5-3 record and in those eight games we've seen our fair share of homeruns, clutch hits, great plays, clutch pitching, and plenty of hits. In the last two games that the Mariners have played they have scored 19 runs including the 11 run massacre of the Red Sox on Monday. Right now they sit at 40-50 while being 13.5 games out of first place in the American League West standings and only 10.5 games out of the American League Wild Card.
The way the Mariners have been playing this month we have also seen Justin Smoak and Michael Saunders get their swing back and Raul Ibanez continues his amazing season as he leads the team in homeruns and tied with Kendrys Morales for the team leader in RBIs with 51. Kyle Seager has been incredible (as always) in the last 10 games has he has posted a .410 batting average including his current 9 game hitting streak and he leads the team in batting average batting .288. Brad Miller last night had a career night as he went 3-5 with two doubles and a career high 4 RBIs and he also raised his batting average 75 points in the last two games.
Nick Franklin continues his amazing season as well, he is second on the team in batting average batting .281 and he's clubbed 6 homeruns while driving in 16 runs. Like I said in the first paragraph Smoak's bat has come alive, in the last 10 games he's batting .382 with 2 homeruns and 5 runs driven in, in the 10 games that Smoak has been heating up since he has come off the DL he's raised his average to an impressive .266 and currently this month he's hitting and unbelievable .423. Saunders's bat like I said in the paragraph above this one has also been heating up as over the last 4 games he has played he has gone 5 for 15 while driving in 6 runs and 3 of those 5 hits have been extra base hits including the triple he hit last night.
Now, the Mariners have a big problem though currently and surprisingly its Hisashi Iwakuma. In Iwakuma's last 5 starts has gone 0-3 with a 6.83 ERA while giving up 10 homeruns and 22 runs all earned. Felix Hernandez is doing very well coming off his bad start in Anaheim as he has gone 1-0 with a 2.00 ERA in his last 3 starts while striking out 24 in 21 innings. Hisashi needs to get his stuff together and pitch like the Cy Young contender he was when he was 7-1 with a 1.79 ERA. Another concern for the Mariners is their bullpen, now not all of our relievers have been terrible for example Oliver Perez is making a name for himself as he has pitched in 36 games, 33.1 innings, while striking out 46 and posting a 1.89 ERA.
Carter Capps has been struggling in his last 6 games that he has pitched. He has given up 14 runs and his ERA has risen from 3.54 to 6.62 while posting a 15.12 ERA in his last 10 games pitched. The Mariners need to make a decision to either send Capps down to Triple A for a bit and call up either Logan Bawcom or Hector Noesi. Now, all I've written about so far in this blog is the good and the bad about the team but as you can tell from the title of the blog that's not all I'm going to write about, the Mariners right now are having a good season.
They've been hot in hitting the baseball in the last two weeks and if they can get together a good winning streak and come out in the second half red smoking hot they Mariners could possibly make a run for the Wild Card. The bullpen has to improve and not give up runs in clutch situations like last night when they gave up 5 critical runs to the Red Sox. Both Felix and Hisashi need to improve and go deep in games and work on keeping their pitch count down early in the games, Joe Saunders needs to continue his hot pitching as he is 2-0 in his last 2 starts, Aaron Harang needs to keep his hot streak going as well, and finally with Erasmo Ramirez coming up this Thursday he must go deep into ball games and pitch like he did in Spring Training.
If the Mariners can do all these things then fans will see either the M's finishing the season above .500 or see the M's make an impressive run to the playoffs.
The way the Mariners have been playing this month we have also seen Justin Smoak and Michael Saunders get their swing back and Raul Ibanez continues his amazing season as he leads the team in homeruns and tied with Kendrys Morales for the team leader in RBIs with 51. Kyle Seager has been incredible (as always) in the last 10 games has he has posted a .410 batting average including his current 9 game hitting streak and he leads the team in batting average batting .288. Brad Miller last night had a career night as he went 3-5 with two doubles and a career high 4 RBIs and he also raised his batting average 75 points in the last two games.
Nick Franklin continues his amazing season as well, he is second on the team in batting average batting .281 and he's clubbed 6 homeruns while driving in 16 runs. Like I said in the first paragraph Smoak's bat has come alive, in the last 10 games he's batting .382 with 2 homeruns and 5 runs driven in, in the 10 games that Smoak has been heating up since he has come off the DL he's raised his average to an impressive .266 and currently this month he's hitting and unbelievable .423. Saunders's bat like I said in the paragraph above this one has also been heating up as over the last 4 games he has played he has gone 5 for 15 while driving in 6 runs and 3 of those 5 hits have been extra base hits including the triple he hit last night.
Now, the Mariners have a big problem though currently and surprisingly its Hisashi Iwakuma. In Iwakuma's last 5 starts has gone 0-3 with a 6.83 ERA while giving up 10 homeruns and 22 runs all earned. Felix Hernandez is doing very well coming off his bad start in Anaheim as he has gone 1-0 with a 2.00 ERA in his last 3 starts while striking out 24 in 21 innings. Hisashi needs to get his stuff together and pitch like the Cy Young contender he was when he was 7-1 with a 1.79 ERA. Another concern for the Mariners is their bullpen, now not all of our relievers have been terrible for example Oliver Perez is making a name for himself as he has pitched in 36 games, 33.1 innings, while striking out 46 and posting a 1.89 ERA.
Carter Capps has been struggling in his last 6 games that he has pitched. He has given up 14 runs and his ERA has risen from 3.54 to 6.62 while posting a 15.12 ERA in his last 10 games pitched. The Mariners need to make a decision to either send Capps down to Triple A for a bit and call up either Logan Bawcom or Hector Noesi. Now, all I've written about so far in this blog is the good and the bad about the team but as you can tell from the title of the blog that's not all I'm going to write about, the Mariners right now are having a good season.
They've been hot in hitting the baseball in the last two weeks and if they can get together a good winning streak and come out in the second half red smoking hot they Mariners could possibly make a run for the Wild Card. The bullpen has to improve and not give up runs in clutch situations like last night when they gave up 5 critical runs to the Red Sox. Both Felix and Hisashi need to improve and go deep in games and work on keeping their pitch count down early in the games, Joe Saunders needs to continue his hot pitching as he is 2-0 in his last 2 starts, Aaron Harang needs to keep his hot streak going as well, and finally with Erasmo Ramirez coming up this Thursday he must go deep into ball games and pitch like he did in Spring Training.
If the Mariners can do all these things then fans will see either the M's finishing the season above .500 or see the M's make an impressive run to the playoffs.
Monday, July 8, 2013
Boston Massacre in Seattle
The Mariners came into tonight's game with their King on the mound. Felix went out looking for his first win in four starts. Felix did not struggle in the first inning as he only gave up the one out single to Jonny Gomes and following Gomes's single got Dustin Pedroia to ground into an inning ending double play. The Bellarmine Prep grad and Washington native John Lester took the mound for the Red Sox looking to get his ninth win of the year, he got the Mariners to go 1-2-3 while striking out two batters. David Ortiz lead off the top of the second inning for the Red Sox by singling to center, Felix got Mike Napoli to strikeout looking following him former Mariners outfielder and first basemen Mike Carp singled to put runners at first and second for the Red Sox. Felix didn't let the pressure get to him as usual, he got Jarod Saltalamacchia to line out to Raul in left and finished the inning by getting Jose Iglesias to strikeout swinging.
Both teams didn't score until the fourth inning. The Mariners began the bottom of the fourth inning on a great note, Kendrys Morales singled and following him Kyle Seager singled to right, on the single Morales was able to hustle into third and the M's had runners at the corners with nobody out. Lester was able to get Jason Bay to strikeout but after that it was all Mariners; Justin Smoak lined a double down the left field line that brought home the Mariners first run of the game and following Smoak's double Mike Zunino was able to draw a seven pitch walk.
After a quick visit to the mound by the Red Sox pitching coach Michael Saunders was able to be patient and draw the bases loaded walk that put the Mariners up 2-0, Lester finally was able to get out of the inning by getting Brad Miller and Nick Franklin to pop out and if anyone was happy to get out of the was Lester as he threw 39 pitches in the inning. The Red Sox bounced back in the top of the fifth inning by getting two runs back to tie the game up.
Raul Ibanez lead off the bottom of the fifth inning by extending his hitting streak to 13 games by hitting his 22nd homerun of the year and putting the Mariners up 3-2. The Mariners had another big inning in the bottom of the sixth inning as Smoak and Zunino lead off the inning by singling, after that Lester exited the game and Alex Wilson came into relief him. Saunders was able to take a 2-0 pitch deep to center field that scored both Smoak and Zunino to put the Mariners lead to 5-2. After Miller and Franklin were unable to add to the lead Ibanez decided that he should be the one to do so, he singled up the middle driving in Saunders for his 51st RBI of the season. The Mariners weren't done there, the bottom of the seventh inning saw four more runs come across for the M's.
Seager lead off the inning by walking, Smoak then drove in his second run of the game with his second double of the game as well. Saunders was able to get his second double of the game as well driving in Smoak on the play and the Mariners now took a 8-2 lead. Brad Miller got his first hit of the game as well and drove in the ninth run of the game and following that Franklin checked in with his first hit of the game and drove in Miller and after the bottom of the seventh inning the Mariners had a 10-2 lead.
Oliver Perez was brought in the top of the eighth to relief Felix and ended up giving up two additional runs. Going in the bottom of the eighth inning the Mariners weren't looking to score anymore runs but after Morales lead off by getting hit by a pitch, Seager walking and Smoak walking as well Zunino grounded out on a check swing that allowed Morales to score and the Mariners had an 11-4 lead after the eighth. Yoervis Medina came into the ninth inning and shut the door to secure the Mariners their 40th win of the year and Felix's first win since June 15th.
Both teams didn't score until the fourth inning. The Mariners began the bottom of the fourth inning on a great note, Kendrys Morales singled and following him Kyle Seager singled to right, on the single Morales was able to hustle into third and the M's had runners at the corners with nobody out. Lester was able to get Jason Bay to strikeout but after that it was all Mariners; Justin Smoak lined a double down the left field line that brought home the Mariners first run of the game and following Smoak's double Mike Zunino was able to draw a seven pitch walk.
After a quick visit to the mound by the Red Sox pitching coach Michael Saunders was able to be patient and draw the bases loaded walk that put the Mariners up 2-0, Lester finally was able to get out of the inning by getting Brad Miller and Nick Franklin to pop out and if anyone was happy to get out of the was Lester as he threw 39 pitches in the inning. The Red Sox bounced back in the top of the fifth inning by getting two runs back to tie the game up.
Raul Ibanez lead off the bottom of the fifth inning by extending his hitting streak to 13 games by hitting his 22nd homerun of the year and putting the Mariners up 3-2. The Mariners had another big inning in the bottom of the sixth inning as Smoak and Zunino lead off the inning by singling, after that Lester exited the game and Alex Wilson came into relief him. Saunders was able to take a 2-0 pitch deep to center field that scored both Smoak and Zunino to put the Mariners lead to 5-2. After Miller and Franklin were unable to add to the lead Ibanez decided that he should be the one to do so, he singled up the middle driving in Saunders for his 51st RBI of the season. The Mariners weren't done there, the bottom of the seventh inning saw four more runs come across for the M's.
Seager lead off the inning by walking, Smoak then drove in his second run of the game with his second double of the game as well. Saunders was able to get his second double of the game as well driving in Smoak on the play and the Mariners now took a 8-2 lead. Brad Miller got his first hit of the game as well and drove in the ninth run of the game and following that Franklin checked in with his first hit of the game and drove in Miller and after the bottom of the seventh inning the Mariners had a 10-2 lead.
Oliver Perez was brought in the top of the eighth to relief Felix and ended up giving up two additional runs. Going in the bottom of the eighth inning the Mariners weren't looking to score anymore runs but after Morales lead off by getting hit by a pitch, Seager walking and Smoak walking as well Zunino grounded out on a check swing that allowed Morales to score and the Mariners had an 11-4 lead after the eighth. Yoervis Medina came into the ninth inning and shut the door to secure the Mariners their 40th win of the year and Felix's first win since June 15th.
Sunday, July 7, 2013
An All Star weekend
Well, just got back from Alaska and during my time in Alaska I managed to watch the Mariners games and keep up with writing my blogs. I guess that ill go over the last three days since I was too stupid not to write on Friday or Saturday. The Mariners were able to take the series from the Cincinnati Reds and go back to Seattle with a successful road trip going 4-2. On Friday the Mariners lead off the top of the first with Brad Miller tripling to start things off for the team, following that Nick Franklin took Reds pitcher Mike Leake deep to give the Mariners the early 2-0 lead. After Aaron Harang went 1-2-3 in the bottom of the first inning Michael Saunders lead off the top of the second inning by hitting his fifth homerun of the year putting the Mariners lead to 3-0.
It was Saunders's first homerun since May 4th when he hit two homeruns. Saunders drove in his second run of the game by scoring Kyle Seager on a sacrifice fly to give the Mariners the 4-0 lead. In the top of the fifth inning Miller tripled for the second time in the game but the M's couldn't drive him in. The Reds scored their first run of the game when former Mariners player Shin-Soo Choo doubled to score Devin Mesoraco, then in the bottom of the sixth inning All Star Jay Bruce drove his fifteenth homerun of the year over the center field fence and the Reds now trailed 4-2. Oliver Perez came into the ninth inning to close the game and get the Mariners their 38th win of the year, with only throwing 11 pitches Perez struck out the side and the Mariners took game one of the three game series.
Game two was completely different and was not pretty to watch. For the second game in a row the Mariners got their first run of the game via the homerun thanks to Seager hitting his thirteenth homerun of the year and the M's took the 1-0 after the top of the first inning. Seager broke a 1-1 tie in the top of the third by scoring Miller on a sacrifice fly and the M's took the 2-1 lead. After that it was all Reds as they pounded the Mariners pitching staff for 13 runs. Matt Latos struck out 11 batters and the rest of the bullpen struck out an additional 3 batters. So now we move onto today, the Mariners lead off their third game in a row with a homerun as Franklin hit his sixth homerun of the year. Raul Ibanez also extended his hitting streak to 12 games.
The Mariners got two additional runs in the top of the third as Justin Smoak hit his seventh homerun of the year and drove in Seager as well, so thanks to the Smoak Bomb the Mariners took the 3-0 lead. Tom Wilhelmsen came in the bottom of the ninth and closed the game while only throwing 7 pitches and the Mariners took the series from the Reds and come home to face the Boston Red Sox for a four game series and will also face the Los Angeles Angels for the final three games of the first half.
NOTES: Felix Hernandez and Hisashi Iwakuma both were named to the American League All Star Team on Saturday.
It was Saunders's first homerun since May 4th when he hit two homeruns. Saunders drove in his second run of the game by scoring Kyle Seager on a sacrifice fly to give the Mariners the 4-0 lead. In the top of the fifth inning Miller tripled for the second time in the game but the M's couldn't drive him in. The Reds scored their first run of the game when former Mariners player Shin-Soo Choo doubled to score Devin Mesoraco, then in the bottom of the sixth inning All Star Jay Bruce drove his fifteenth homerun of the year over the center field fence and the Reds now trailed 4-2. Oliver Perez came into the ninth inning to close the game and get the Mariners their 38th win of the year, with only throwing 11 pitches Perez struck out the side and the Mariners took game one of the three game series.
Game two was completely different and was not pretty to watch. For the second game in a row the Mariners got their first run of the game via the homerun thanks to Seager hitting his thirteenth homerun of the year and the M's took the 1-0 after the top of the first inning. Seager broke a 1-1 tie in the top of the third by scoring Miller on a sacrifice fly and the M's took the 2-1 lead. After that it was all Reds as they pounded the Mariners pitching staff for 13 runs. Matt Latos struck out 11 batters and the rest of the bullpen struck out an additional 3 batters. So now we move onto today, the Mariners lead off their third game in a row with a homerun as Franklin hit his sixth homerun of the year. Raul Ibanez also extended his hitting streak to 12 games.
The Mariners got two additional runs in the top of the third as Justin Smoak hit his seventh homerun of the year and drove in Seager as well, so thanks to the Smoak Bomb the Mariners took the 3-0 lead. Tom Wilhelmsen came in the bottom of the ninth and closed the game while only throwing 7 pitches and the Mariners took the series from the Reds and come home to face the Boston Red Sox for a four game series and will also face the Los Angeles Angels for the final three games of the first half.
NOTES: Felix Hernandez and Hisashi Iwakuma both were named to the American League All Star Team on Saturday.
Thursday, July 4, 2013
Simply Seager sweet swing wins it in extras
Felix Hernandez took to the mound in yesterday's game against the Rangers looking for his first win in three decisions as he went up against Derek Holland. The Mariners wasted no time in putting up the first run of the ball game, as Jason Bay launched his eleventh solo homerun of the season to put the M's up 1-0. Holland finished off the top of the first by striking out both Nick Franklin and Raul Ibanez and by getting Kendrys Morales to ground out. Felix didn't wasted anytime as well as he struck out the first two batters he faced and got Adrian Beltre to fly out. After that both teams were really quiet through the next three and a half innings. The Mariners lead off the top of the second inning with a pair of singles by Kyle Seager and Justin Smoak but Holland worked out of the jam by getting Dustin Ackley to fly out, striking out Mike Zunino, and finally getting Brad Miller to fly out to end the top of the second inning.
A.J. Pierzynski lead off the Rangers half of the second inning by singling to left field, Felix then got Lance Berkman to line out to Bay for the first out of the inning following that he struck out Mitch Moreland for the second out of the inning. David Murphy was able to get a two out single that allowed Pierzynski to move to third but Leonys Martin grounded out to end the bottom of the second inning for the Rangers. Both Holland and Felix had an easy 1-2-3 third innings. In the fourth inning the Mariners were able to get two runners one in both Seager and Ackley, but were unable again to get the job done with runners in scoring position as Zunino struck out to end the top of the fourth. In the bottom of the fifth inning though the Rangers struck for their first runs of the game, Murphy lead off the inning by hitting his ninth homerun of the year, after Martin flew out Ian Kinsler took Hernandez deep for his eighth homerun of the year and the Rangers now took the lead 2-1 over the Mariners.
Ibanez lead off the top of the sixth inning by singling to left field, following Ibanez's single Morales singled to right field and the Mariners had their first two batters on to start off the inning. With one out Smoak drew a seven pitch walk that loaded up the bases for the Mariners but Ackley struck out to bring up Zunino. Zunino was looking to either tie the game up or give the M's the lead, Zunino did just that as he legged out an infield single to tie the game up at 2-2. Felix would keep the Mariners in the game by giving the team two more strong innings and would leave the game after the seventh inning.
Both teams wouldn't have a single threat as the game went into the tenth inning. Michael Saunders drew a two out walk that brought up Seager, and on a 1-1 pitch Seager drove the ball into the right field seats for his twelfth homerun of the year and gave the Mariners the 4-2 lead. Tom Wilhelmsen was brought in to try and get his first save since the tenth of June. The Bartender did the job and got his seventeenth save of the year with a quick 1-2-3 inning.
Today the Mariners will try and go for their first sweep of the year as Hisashi Iwakuma goes to the mound for the M's.
A.J. Pierzynski lead off the Rangers half of the second inning by singling to left field, Felix then got Lance Berkman to line out to Bay for the first out of the inning following that he struck out Mitch Moreland for the second out of the inning. David Murphy was able to get a two out single that allowed Pierzynski to move to third but Leonys Martin grounded out to end the bottom of the second inning for the Rangers. Both Holland and Felix had an easy 1-2-3 third innings. In the fourth inning the Mariners were able to get two runners one in both Seager and Ackley, but were unable again to get the job done with runners in scoring position as Zunino struck out to end the top of the fourth. In the bottom of the fifth inning though the Rangers struck for their first runs of the game, Murphy lead off the inning by hitting his ninth homerun of the year, after Martin flew out Ian Kinsler took Hernandez deep for his eighth homerun of the year and the Rangers now took the lead 2-1 over the Mariners.
Ibanez lead off the top of the sixth inning by singling to left field, following Ibanez's single Morales singled to right field and the Mariners had their first two batters on to start off the inning. With one out Smoak drew a seven pitch walk that loaded up the bases for the Mariners but Ackley struck out to bring up Zunino. Zunino was looking to either tie the game up or give the M's the lead, Zunino did just that as he legged out an infield single to tie the game up at 2-2. Felix would keep the Mariners in the game by giving the team two more strong innings and would leave the game after the seventh inning.
Both teams wouldn't have a single threat as the game went into the tenth inning. Michael Saunders drew a two out walk that brought up Seager, and on a 1-1 pitch Seager drove the ball into the right field seats for his twelfth homerun of the year and gave the Mariners the 4-2 lead. Tom Wilhelmsen was brought in to try and get his first save since the tenth of June. The Bartender did the job and got his seventeenth save of the year with a quick 1-2-3 inning.
Today the Mariners will try and go for their first sweep of the year as Hisashi Iwakuma goes to the mound for the M's.
Saturday, June 15, 2013
Blanco saves Felix
Eric Wedge decided to start Henry Blanco today. Blanco caught Felix once in the World Baseball Classic so Wedge figured that they would communicate well together. The Mariners were on the national spotlight today as the game was broadcast on FOX. The Mariners would go down easily in the top of the first, but Felix would not have such an easy first inning. Felix would get the first batter in Coco Crisp to strikeout but John Jaso would walk and after striking out Yoenis Cespedes Brandon Moss singled to put runners at first and second but thanks to Felix being as clutch as he is managed to strike out John Donaldson to end the bottom of the first. Felix threw 24 pitches in the first inning.
Raul Ibanez lead off the top of the second by singling and Mike Morse followed by singling himself. Michael Saunders was able to continue his struggles by striking out with nobody out then both Brendan Ryan and Henry Blanco popped out to end the top of second inning. Felix had another long inning has he finish the second by not allowing a hit or run but threw an extra 18 pitches giving him 42 total pitches in only two innings of work. In the third Felix would have an easy 1-2-3 inning by throwing 16 pitches and putting his total to 58 in three innings of work. The fourth inning saw Felix strikeout two batters and get Donaldson to ground out and only threw 13 pitches.
The fifth inning brought some excitement to both sides. The Mariners started off their half of the fifth with both Blanco and Ryan flying out. Endy Chavez was able to leg out an infield single, Nick Franklin followed Chavez by doubling down the right field line but unfortunately Chavez couldn't score and was held up at third. Kyle Seager was unsuccessful in bring home the M's first run of the game and popped out to end the inning. Jed Lowrie lead off the Athletics half of the fifth by doubling and putting the A's in a position to take the lead on Felix. Felix was able to escape the inning in one hell of a fashion, he got Seth Smith to fly out and then Chris Young flew out and on his fly out Lowrie was cut down trying to score and Felix was in and out in only 8 pitches.
Kendrys Morales lead off the sixth inning by singling just past the diving Eric Sogard. Mike Morse drove one over the head of Chris Young on the play Morales was able to mooch on into third base. Michael Saunders was intentionally walked to bring up Henry Blanco and on the first pitch put the Mariners up 4-0 with his second grand slam of his career. Felix would get into a jam in the seventh inning after the first two batters got on with singles but he was able to strikeout Donaldson and got Jed Lowrie to ground into the inning ending double play. Charlie Furbush and Yorvis Medina finished off Felix's 106 pitching gem and secured the series over the A's.
NOTES:The Mariners are now 6-3 against the A's this season.
Raul Ibanez lead off the top of the second by singling and Mike Morse followed by singling himself. Michael Saunders was able to continue his struggles by striking out with nobody out then both Brendan Ryan and Henry Blanco popped out to end the top of second inning. Felix had another long inning has he finish the second by not allowing a hit or run but threw an extra 18 pitches giving him 42 total pitches in only two innings of work. In the third Felix would have an easy 1-2-3 inning by throwing 16 pitches and putting his total to 58 in three innings of work. The fourth inning saw Felix strikeout two batters and get Donaldson to ground out and only threw 13 pitches.
The fifth inning brought some excitement to both sides. The Mariners started off their half of the fifth with both Blanco and Ryan flying out. Endy Chavez was able to leg out an infield single, Nick Franklin followed Chavez by doubling down the right field line but unfortunately Chavez couldn't score and was held up at third. Kyle Seager was unsuccessful in bring home the M's first run of the game and popped out to end the inning. Jed Lowrie lead off the Athletics half of the fifth by doubling and putting the A's in a position to take the lead on Felix. Felix was able to escape the inning in one hell of a fashion, he got Seth Smith to fly out and then Chris Young flew out and on his fly out Lowrie was cut down trying to score and Felix was in and out in only 8 pitches.
Kendrys Morales lead off the sixth inning by singling just past the diving Eric Sogard. Mike Morse drove one over the head of Chris Young on the play Morales was able to mooch on into third base. Michael Saunders was intentionally walked to bring up Henry Blanco and on the first pitch put the Mariners up 4-0 with his second grand slam of his career. Felix would get into a jam in the seventh inning after the first two batters got on with singles but he was able to strikeout Donaldson and got Jed Lowrie to ground into the inning ending double play. Charlie Furbush and Yorvis Medina finished off Felix's 106 pitching gem and secured the series over the A's.
NOTES:The Mariners are now 6-3 against the A's this season.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
About Me
Im a huge Seattle sports nut. Thats basically about me. But im an upcoming blogger who writes only about the Mariners, Seahawks, Sounders, and when they come back the Sonics. Now if you would like me to write about something tweet me and i will write it. Now i should mark that im also Irish and have a beard that is feared above Brian Wilson's beard. His beard can kiss my beard's ass!